18 'swab and send' COVID test sites launch, backed by Maine health care businesses

Courtesy / Maine Department of Health and Human Services

Seen here is a map of existing and proposed “swab and send” COVID-19 test collection sites.

Seven health care organizations across the state have begun working with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to launch 18 sites for “swab and send” COVID-19 test collection.

The program will strengthen access to safe testing for residents, tourists, seasonal workers and other visitors to Maine, DHHS said in a news release Tuesday.

“Expanding access to testing is critical to keeping COVID-19 infection rates in Maine relatively low,” Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said in the release. “Creating Maine-based testing capacity is especially important as national laboratories struggle to handle other states’ surge of COVID-19 cases. It prevents the Maine state lab from experiencing the shortages of testing supplies and re-agents that occurred early in the pandemic.”

The drive-through, drive-up and mobile specimen collection sites, under agreements with DHHS, will offer specimen collection free of charge to anyone who believes they may have COVID-19 or could have been exposed to the virus, whether or not they have symptoms of the disease.

The state is encouraging use of the sites especially by health care and hospitality workers, people of color, those who have participated in large gatherings and visitors from other states with a higher prevalence of COVID-19 than in Maine, among others.

Some of the sites are in operation, while others will come online in the next two weeks. As part of the Mills administration’s expansion of testing capacity announced last month, DHHS formally invited applications that will use federal grant funding to support the establishment of the specimen collection sites and testing of samples at the state’s Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory.

DHHS is now finalizing agreements with the following organizations:

Northern Light Health
Penobscot Community Health Care
MaineGeneral Medical Center
Mount Desert Island Hospital
Calais Regional Hospital
Northern Maine Medical Center
Promerica Health LLC

The swab and send sites are or will be available in Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, Augusta, Portland, South Portland, Belfast, Ellsworth, Blue Hill, Dover-Foxcroft, Presque Isle, Calais, Greenville, Waterville, Pittsfield, Bar Harbor and Fort Kent.

Some of the participating health care organizations are offering testing at additional sites outside of the swab-and-send agreement with DHHS. For a complete and frequently updated list of all COVID-19 testing sites in Maine, click here.

The 18 sites represent a variety of models. Promerica Health, a Falmouth-based health care marketing company, will deploy mobile health vehicles to underserved areas. MDI Hospital is partnering with employers to test asymptomatic front-line workers beginning July 20. Other organizations have adapted quickly to provide drive up or drive-through testing on or near their existing health care facilities.

Penobscot Community Health Care’s swab-and-send sites are already operational in Brewer, Old Town and Belfast.

"PCHC is proud to be a swab and send COVID testing site," Lori Dwyer, president and CEO of PCHC, said in the release. "Having convenient access to testing sites and relatively quick results is critical to ensuring Maine can continue its strong public health response to the pandemic and help keep as many people as possible safe and healthy."

Calais Regional Hospital is also already providing swab and send testing for COVID-19.

“Our staff worked very hard developing a process to bring more availability to COVID-19 testing to our community members and those visiting our area,” Calais Regional Hospital CEO Rod Boula said in the release. “We know our community is nervous about the virus and the many changes it has brought, but we continue to be here for COVID-19 related concerns and the everyday healthcare needs of our community.”

Northern Light Health expects to begin offering testing at 10 sites next week under the swab and send agreement.

“There are some additional details to be ironed out, but Northern Light Health is delighted to support the state in its plans to offer additional testing,” Tim Dentry, president and CEO of Northern Light Health, said in the release. “We look forward to our continued collaboration and leveraging our statewide presence on behalf of all our residents.”

Mount Desert Island Hospital is not a traditional swab-and-send site, but the hospital has partnered with the Downeast COVID-19 Task Force and the state to implement a new asymptomatic front-line workforce testing pilot program beginning on July 20.

“By providing regular COVID-19 surveillance data for a subset of frontline employees throughout the summer season, this pilot will help protect not only our workforce but our greater community and our visitors as well,” Chrissi Maguire, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Mount Desert Island Hospital, said in the release.

Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent anticipates that it will begin offering swab-and-send testing in two weeks.

The 18 sites complement the roughly 40 current testing sites already available to the public. DHHS aims to further increase the number of testing sites outside of health care office settings and continues to accept applications for the swab-and-send effort.

DHHS will support testing of samples from the swab-and-send sites at the Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory through an expanded partnership with Westbrook-based IDEXX Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: IDXX). Under the partnership, a new mobile lab anchored at the state facility in Augusta will quadruple current testing capacity in the coming weeks.