Sacred Heart Closes Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing After Fewer Cases Result In Reduced Demand

April 1, 2021

Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart has closed its drive-through COVID-19 testing centers due to decreased demand for testing and lower rates of COVID-19 in the community.

Ascension Sacred Heart will continue to provide COVID-19 testing at its Urgent Care Centers in Pensacola and Pace, while shifting some of its mobile testing site staff to join Ascension Sacred Heart’s expanded COVID-19 vaccination centers in Pensacola and Milton.

“While the demand for testing has been dropping as cases of COVID-19 have decreased in our area, we have a greater need to dedicate more resources right now to our vaccination sites,” said Justin Labrato, chief operating officer of Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart. “So we are closing our mobile testing operations at the Milton Community Center, Tiger Point Community Center and drive-through center off Bayou Boulevard in Pensacola. We will relocate our COVID testing services to our Urgent Care Centers in Pensacola and Pace.”

The Urgent Care Center on Highway 29 in Pensacola and the Urgent Care Center on Highway 90 in Pace are open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (The Urgent Care Centers will reduce their hours on Easter Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

Labrato said Ascension Sacred Heart will be ready to ramp up drive-through testing again if there is another large spike of the coronavirus in the community. The healthcare system was one of the first in Florida to open a drive-through testing center when the first cases of COVID-19 arrived in the area in March 2020. Since then, Ascension Sacred Heart has conducted nasal swab tests on more than 75,500 people, with more than 12,000 of those confirmed to have the virus.

At the peak of the COVID-19 surge in Pensacola in December and January, Ascension Sacred Heart’s three drive-through centers in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties were testing 400-500 people each day. In the past two weeks, that number has dropped to about 100 per day.

“With the expansion of vaccinations to anyone in Florida over the age of 18 starting on April 5, we felt we had to focus our staffing resources where they are needed most — and that is our vaccination centers,” Labrato said.

In Pensacola, Ascension Sacred Heart will hold vaccination clinics for Florida residents 18 and older at Olive Baptist Church on April 5, April 8, April 10, April 16, April 17, and April 19.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News