Drive-thru COVID-19 testing site opens at RI Convention Center, replacing RIC site

PROVIDENCE, RI (WLNE) – The Rhode Island Convention Center is the home of the state’s newest COVID-19 testing site.

The new testing site replaces the former one at Rhode Island College (RIC) and RIDOH says they plan to phase-out the testing site at CCRI in the near future too.

The Rhode Island Convention Center drive-thru site expands the state’s testing capacity from 1,200 tests per day to 1,500 tests per day, according to RIDOH.

However, there’s a growing concern about testing delays after one company admitted patients may have to wait weeks for their results.

Quest Diagnostics, which handles much of the east coast’s COVID-19 tests said Monday that the “soaring demand” of tests has slowed their turnaround time with giving out results.

Quest Diagnostics hopes to begin pooling specimens for testing at their lab in Marlborough, Mass. to speed up processing times.

The clinical laboratory is also asking healthcare providers to comply with a prioritization plan which would specify if a sample needs to be tested more quickly than others.