Health Center Expands COVID-19 Testing

LYNN — Lynn Community Health Center will begin to offer walk-through coronavirus testing for its patients on Tuesday. The outdoor clinic will be set up in a tent at the Element Care parking lot at 9 Buffum St., located across the street from the health center’s main site on Union Street. Dr. Geoff Pechinsky, Lynn Community Health Center chief medical officer, said healthcare workers will be able test up to 100 patients per day at the downtown clinic with test kits that are being provided by North Shore Medical Center. The service will only be available for current LCHC patients, who need both a referral and an appointment to be tested at the clinic. Only those who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms will be tested. Patients can walk up to the tent to get tested, and the results will be sent electronically to their medical provider within one to two days. The provider will then call the patient to share their test results. “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for awhile,” said Pechinsky. “It hinged on the testing. We have the staff. Knowing that we have that steady supply of tests, it’s absolutely exciting. I think the next step after that is: how do we increase testing even further? How do we do the follow-up with people who have tested positive and do the contract tracing from there?” ...