Update: As of Oct. 1, 2020, the Pepsi Center in Denver is no longer a coronavirus testing site. As of Oct. 4, 2020, the Aurora Sports Park is no longer a coronavirus testing site. Water World in Adams County still remains as a testing site. You can find more information about Denver testing sites here, and Tri-county testing sites here.
Gov. Jared Polis announced two more free COVID-19 testing sites in metro Denver on Monday, bringing the total of state-run sites to three.
The new community sites are at Water World in Adams County and at Aurora Sports Park. Both will provide drive-up testing daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
During a press briefing outside Water World, Polis said he expects test results from these sites to take two to four days.
“Really the genesis of this is that a lot of the testing being done with the national labs was simply taking too long for Colorado residents, too long for our public health needs,” he said. “People weren’t hearing back for nine, 10 days. I even heard 12 days (that) somebody didn’t hear back. So we wanted to do something about it and fix it.”
No identification, insurance, doctor’s note or appointment is needed, although pre-registration is recommended. Polis urged any Coloradans with flu-like symptoms to get tested, as well as those who think they were exposed to someone with the coronavirus.
“If you were on a bus and somebody was coughing right next to you, if you sat next to somebody that was infected, if a family member was infected,” he said. “You want to come here about a week after you were exposed. Or, if you develop symptoms, even sooner.”
The state has partnered with North Carolina-based MAKO Medical Laboratories to administer and process the tests. The site at Water World in Federal Heights can test up to 2,500 people a day.
“Now with the quicker testing, we look forward to driving that positivity rate even lower, alerting people earlier in the process, empowering our tracers to be able to do their work even better, and also letting people who are negative return to their normal lives a little bit more quickly,” Polis said.
In May, the state launched a massive testing site in Denver outside the Pepsi Center. Officials have said that location will continue to operate for the time being.
