WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A COVID-19 testing site in Luzerne County is now open at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township.
If you are traveling to shop in Wilkes-Barre Township, there will be new traffic patterns in place while the testing site is open.
Highland Park Boulevard is closed between the exit from Interstate 81(168) to Mundy Street by the Wyoming Valley Mall to all traffic except to the warehouses and the testing site.
The site is open Monday from noon to 4 p.m. and only open to 100 health care workers and first responders to get tested.
Starting Tuesday, the testing site will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and testing will also include people 65 or older in addition to health care workers and first responders.
The testing site can only be accessed from exit 168 off Interstate 81. People leaving the site are being directed right back on to I-81 south to help make sure they are not stopping to shop.
Everyone getting tested must be symptomatic and must preregister online and make an appointment.
People looking to get tested need to visit the Department of Health website and follow a registration link to Redcap Cloud and create an account to sign up. This needs to be done the day before going to get tested.
"You have to click on that and join Redcap, which is one of our contractors, to then sign up for testing," explained Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
On Tuesday, the site will be open to people over the age of 65, and the site will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
People have voiced concerns about patients stopping to shop at shopping centers near the testing site. The Department of Health says there's a plan to prevent it.
"There have been very, very carefully designed traffic patterns so that people will come off the highway and go directly to that site in the parking lot and then after testing directed right back on the highway to avoid going shopping," Dr. Levine said.
Newswatch 16 saw the traffic pattern in place, as well as a police officer standing by near the exit ramp to the highway.
However, we did see a few vehicles leave the testing site and ignore the new traffic pattern and continue down to the shopping area, but we could not confirm if the people in those vehicles were being tested for COVID-19 or just working at the testing site.
"Isolate yourself after the testing. Go right home and wait for the results. Going shopping after that time would not be prudent and could be dangerous and spread the virus," Levine added.