Central Health would like to advise that starting Wednesday, June 9, 2021, Walmart staff in Gander will have access to a COVID-19 community testing clinic in Gander.
This clinic has been set up in response to a positive case of COVID-19 identified at the Walmart in Gander.
Testing will be limited to Walmart staff in Gander.
Testing for Walmart employees will take place from 12:00 noon to 8:00pm at the Steele Community Centre, in Gander, and there will be no process for appointment booking. Do not present to the James Paton Memorial Regional Centre clinic for testing, as this location is by appointment only.
Individuals are asked to present to the Steele Community Centre clinic and remain in their vehicles until advised to move inside. Individuals are asked to remain patient, respectful and to expect some wait time depending on how many people show up at any given time.
Not everyone who presents will receive rapid testing as it is only applicable to people who have had symptoms for fewer than seven days.
Those who have NOT had symptoms within the past seven days will receive the standard COVID-19 test.
Process for receiving results
As with the standard COVID-19 test, test results will not be available to patients at the point of testing.
If you have a rapid test, the testing team will get a result within 15 - 30 minutes. This result is "presumptive", meaning that it needs to be confirmed with a second test that will be done by the provincial Public Health lab. All individuals with symptoms are advised to isolate. If the presumptive result is positive, the patient will be contacted by Public Health and the contact tracing process will begin immediately while waiting for confirmation by the provincial Public Health lab.
If a negative presumptive result is confirmed to be negative, the results will be posted on the Government NL once it is validated by the Public Health lab.
Everyone is reminded to follow public health measures including wearing masks, practicing good hand hygiene, staying home as much as possible, avoiding entering stores or establishments outside the community and avoid holding gatherings for the time being.
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Media contact:
Gayle St. Croix
Director, Communications & Government Relations
