TIMONIUM, Md. — Even with the required doctor’s referral, Baltimore County’s lone drive up testing site at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium has its limitations.
“I don’t know what to tell you, sir. We’re only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” we overheard a security guard inform a motorist who was turned around on Friday.
Beginning next week, the county will add sites where they’re needed the most.
“Both the Liberty Road corridor/Randallstown, Owings Mills are two of our hotspots, two of the hardest hit communities,” announced Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski.
A walk-in clinic at the Liberty Family Resource Center will test people by appointment only on Mondays, while the vehicle emissions inspection center in Owings Mills will take drive through patients on Wednesdays and Fridays.
“Just last week, we were talking about 30 tests per day at the Timonium drive up site,” said Olszewski. “We’re now increasing that to 75, both at Timonium as well as the Owings Mills site drive through. We’ll have a smaller amount available for walk up at the Liberty Road Resource Center as well.”
The daily tests at the three combined locations still only represent just over 300 tests per week in a county with more than 2,100 confirmed cases to date.
While the county executive applauds the governor and the first lady for landing 500,000 additional tests from South Korea, they will be of no help for now.
“Unfortunately, we also learned there’s no timeline out there for those tests,” said Olszewski. “There’s no timeline for putting them on the streets in Baltimore County or anywhere else, because those tests also require reagents. They also require the swabs, and they require lab capacity.”
Olszewsi says he will add sites and expand capacity where its needed as more tests become available.
For more information, you can call the Baltimore County COVID-19 Hotline at 410-887-3816.
