As schools nationwide slowly begin to allow students back to campus, CVS Pharmacy is expanding access to coronavirus testing for children to help slow the spread of the virus.
Beginning Friday, children age 12 years and older are eligible for testing at the more than 2,000 test sites located at select CVS Pharmacy drive-thru testing locations, CVS Health said in a news release.
In addition, more than 120 new test sites opened Friday at CVS Pharmacy drive-thru locations across the country.
“With schools opening across the country, there’s an urgent need to make testing for minors more readily available,” Troyen Brennan, CVS Health chief medical officer, said. “In response, we’ve implemented a system that allows parents or guardians to register and accompany their children for a self-swab test close to home.”
In recent weeks, officials said CVS Health has been able to improve its turnaround time for test results through its partnerships with a network of independent third-party labs. The majority of test results from specimens collected at CVS test sites across the country will generally be available within two to three days.
Children and adults must register in advance at CVS.com to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 test. A parent or legal guardian must complete the online registration for all minor patients, and patients 12 to 15 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian when they go to a CVS Pharmacy to be tested. Parents or guardians who want to test children under the age of 12 should consult with a pediatrician to identify appropriate testing options.
The self-swab tests are free to patients and available to those meeting criteria set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Signage and instructions will be provided for CVS Pharmacy testing and may vary by location. Patients will be provided a test kit and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process.
To date, CVS Health has administered more than three million COVID-19 tests since launching its first test site in the parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy location in Shrewsbury, Mass. in March.
A complete list of CVS Pharmacy drive-thru test sites can be found here.
