GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rite Aid has expanded COVID-19 testing criteria to include individuals 18 and older experiencing any of the symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell.
Rite Aid currently offers self-swab testing sites at 25 store locations across eight states through its partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
"From the beginning of this crisis we made it our mission to support our communities and associates, and to move as quickly as we can to provide solutions" said Heyward Donigan, president and chief executive officer of Rite Aid.
Donigan also said, "I'm incredibly proud of our pharmacy teams - it's their hard work that has allowed Rite Aid to ramp up testing so quickly, and enables us to expand testing criteria to include all adults exhibiting symptoms."
All of Rite Aid's 25 self-testing sites are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week and each site has the capacity to conduct approximately 400 tests daily through online appointments.
"More than fifty percent of our locations have a drive thru and all Rite Aid pharmacists know how to order and administer tests" Donigan said.
"We are committed to providing more access to COVID-19 self-testing sites and will continue working closely with HHS to explore how we can use our retail locations and expertise to further expand access, testing sites and forms of testing throughout the communities we serve," added Donigan.
All Rite Aid drive-up COVID-19 self-testing sites utilize self-swab nasal tests overseen by Rite Aid pharmacists. Testing sites are located in store parking lots, and patients are required to remain in their vehicles from the time they arrive until the time they depart.
Patients are required to provide government issued identification, be at least 18 years old and need to pre-register online to schedule a time slot for testing.
An email address is required as part of the pre-registration process. The patient does not need to bring a prescription or lab order in order to be tested, since the lab order is part of the on-site process.
Rite Aid has partnered with Verily and will use its Baseline COVID-19 Program to provide screening, scheduling, and return of results to participants at Rite Aid testing sites.
Rite Aid also selected BioReference Laboratories to provide COVID-19 laboratory testing to all drive-up locations with the goal of flattening the curve through accessible diagnostic testing.
Clinical oversight for the COVID-19 testing program is provided by PWNHealth, a national clinician network that enables safe and easy access to diagnostic testing.
COVID-19 testing is available at 5 Rite Aids in Michigan:
- Detroit: 46977 Romeo Plank Roads in Macomb
- Flint: 9090 Miller Road in Swartz Creek
- Grand Rapids: 5995 Kalamazoo Ave., SE in Kentwood
- Lansing: 715 South Main Street in Eaton Rapids
- Saginaw: 4598 State St. in Saginaw
For more information about testing visit Rite Aid's website.
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