The Pima County Health Department today announced new drive-thru COVID-19 testing events beginning next week that will be available in areas of the county that have had limited testing availability.

Through their partnership with the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, Pima County will offer a minimal contact testing operation for free at the following times and locations. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged and can be completed at www.pima.gov/covid19testing.

Ajo/Sells

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11

Ajo High School, 111 N. Well Road

Three Points

2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12

Robles Junction Community Center, 16150 W. Ajo Way

Marana/Picture Rocks

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13

Wheeler Taft Public Library, 7800 N. Schisler Drive

Green Valley/Sahuarita
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 14
Green Valley Recreation Desert Hills Center, 2980 S. Camino Del Sol

Vail/Corona de Tucson
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15
Pima County Fairgrounds, 11300 S. Houghton Road

Oro Valley/Catalina
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16
Coronado K-8 School, 3401 E. Wilds Road

Greater Tucson Area
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 17
Rillito Racetrack, 4502 N. 1st Avenue

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18
Sunnyside High School, 1725 E. Bilby Road

South Tucson
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 19
Tucson Rodeo Grounds, 4823 S. 6th Avenue

“This is an exciting development for COVID-19 testing,” Pima County Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen said in a press release. “This unorthodox style allows us to get into communities that have not had easy or broad access to tests and get a better understanding of COVID-19 across the county.”

Participants can access their test results by logging into www.doineedacovid19test.com within a few days. The county expects to complete 20,000 tests through these events.

Pima County has also teamed up with the City of Tucson to open a third testing center. The new center, which opens today, is at the Udall Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. Tests are available Tuesday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The new center, which requires a nasal swab, joins a similar facility at Kino Event Center, E. Ajo Way.

A third center at the northside Ellie Towne Center, opened in conjunction with ASU, involves a saliva test.

The centers offer easy-to-schedule appointments—often with same-day availability—and you get results in less than 72 hours. Schedule an appointment at pima.gov/covid19testing.

The centers are also tied into Pima County’s developing contact tracing operation, which aims to be able to identify potential clusters and warn people if they have been in contact with someone who is COVID-positive.

If you’re interested in a test to determine if you’ve already had COVID-19, the UA has expanded a free COVID-19 antibody testing program to include 15 new categories of essential workers considered at high risk for exposure.

The antibody test, developed by researchers at UA Health Sciences, determines who has been exposed to and developed an immune response against COVID-19.

In addition to healthcare workers and first responders, the test program is now open to educators, childcare workers, agriculture, grocery and foodservice workers, hospitality employees, solid-waste collection workers, transportation services workers and members of the National Guard.

More information and registration for the test is available at covid19antibodytesting.arizona.edu.

Pima County is also one of several regions in the country where a new COVID-19 vaccine is being tested. The National Institutes of Health is conducting phase 3 trials on a vaccine co-developed by Moderna, Inc. and the National Insitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. If you’re interested in volunteering, visit www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org or ClinicalTrials.gov and search identifier NCT04470427 to find a study center.

The number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 185,000 as of Friday, Aug. 7, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pima County had seen 17,497 of the state’s 185,053 confirmed cases.