COVID

The majority of the state’s free COVID testing sites are shutting down

Starting next month, only 11 state-sponsored testing sites will be open.

Malia Jallah receives a COVID-19 test at a Stop the Spread drive-thru testing site at Revere High School on July 31, 2021. Erin Clark / The Boston Globe

By Marta Hill

2 minutes to read

In less than a month, only 11 of the 41 state-sponsored Stop the Spread testing sites in Massachusetts will remain open. This change, announced Friday, comes as daily case counts, hospitalizations, and demand for testing fall across the state. 

The 11 remaining sites accounted for nearly 72% of Stop the Spread testing from Jan. 20 to Feb. 16 and will remain open through at least May 15, according to Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration. The other sites will close by April 1. 

The release said the remaining locations, which are spread out over nine communities, were chosen “based on demonstrated need, volume of daily testing, and geographic equity.”

Advertisement:

Here’s a list of the locations: 

  • Everett 
  • Framingham 
  • Lawrence (2 locations)
  • Lynn 
  • New Bedford
  • Randolph 
  • Revere 
  • Springfield (2 locations)
  • Worcester 

The sites remaining in operation will continue to offer PCR testing, free to any Massachusetts resident, no ID or insurance needed. 

Massachusetts has seen a steady decline in positive case counts and hospitalizations over the last few weeks. Since Feb. 24, the seven-day average of confirmed cases has been below 1,000, for the first time since July 2021. Hospitalizations have fallen from a seven-day average of almost 2,000 at the start of last month to an average of just over 400 as of March 3. 

Since its inception in July 2020, the Stop the Spread testing program has provided over 4 million tests to residents. But, over the last two months, Stop the Spread testing sites have seen an 80% decrease in volume, according to the release. 

Advertisement:

Though the state-sponsored sites are downsizing, state officials noted there are still many options for residents to get tested. There are still over 450 private testing locations across the state, according to the Baker administration.

At-home tests are also more readily available than they used to be — they are accessible through pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens and retailers like Amazon and Walmart, according to the release.

The federal government has also set up a program to mail tests to every household and ordered insurance companies to cover the cost of up to eight tests per month.  

The Baker administration also recently purchased 26 million COVID-19 at-home rapid tests — some of which will be distributed to the communities that will no longer have a state testing site.

At minimum, communities will receive 1,080 tests, but the number of tests ranges as high as 6,120 for Amherst. The tests will be distributed by March 31 and are designed to “provide a month’s bridge during [the] transition.”

Here’s the full list of communities where sites will close by the end of the month: 

  • Amherst
  • Ashland
  • Brockton
  • Chelsea
  • Fall River
  • Fitchburg
  • Great Barrington
  • Greenfield
  • Holyoke
  • Hyannis
  • Lowell
  • Marlborough
  • Methuen
  • Nantucket
  • North Adams
  • Pittsfield
  • Provincetown
  • Salem
  • Saugus

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com