Exer Urgent Care offers tests in Redondo for COVID-19
An Exer Urgent Care nurse collects a test swap from a drive-through patient. Photo courtesy of Exer Urgent Care
Exer Urgent Care in Redondo Beach, at Pacific Coast Highway and Knob Hill Avenue, is offering drive-up COVID-19 testing for $70. Unlike blood tests for antibodies to COVID-19, Exer Urgent Care tests use nasal swabs to test for the presence of COVID-19. The swabs are sent to WestPac Labs and results are returned by email within 24-48 hours.
The tests may be covered by health insurance. Exer Urgent Care works with PPOs, most HMOs, and Medicare. After the insurance company pays its portion, Exer Urgent Care bills the patient the balance.
We took the test on Sunday. After clicking on a promotional email, we were connected by webcam to a receptionist, who asked about our insurance and symptoms (usually a sore throat, respiratory issues, fatigue and lack of smell and appetite).
A doctor then joined the videoconference and again asked about our symptoms. Then we scheduled a 6:30 p.m. Sunday appointment, one hour after we initially made contact. We were told to call the clinic from the parking lot when we arrived.
A nurse, dressed in full PPE (Personal Protection Equipment), including a gown and mask, asked us to roll up our car window most of the way, handed over the kit and offered instructions. (Open the swab, insert it in the nose for 10 seconds, break off a piece of the stem so it will fit in the bottle and hand the bottle back to her.)
The Exer Urgent Care clinic in Redondo Beach is offering drive-up COVID-19 tests, “while they last.”
In a recent press release, Exer Urgent Care says it has secured “a substantial number” of test kits, and that testing is being offered while supplies last to those who meet the CDC-based screening criteria
If people in the South Bay were eager to get tested for COVID, you wouldn’t know it from spending time in the Exer driveway. Sunday, we were the only car there, and Monday afternoon, when we returned, 30 minutes went by without a single car pulling in.
COVID-19 swab testing is also being offered by UCLA Health in Manhattan Beach and the Beach Cities Health District, in partnership with Los Angeles County. The BCHD tests are being administered in the parking lot of the South Bay Galleria.
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