SYMPTOM-free COVID-19 testing for Grappenhall residents will move to St Wilfrid’s Parish Centre from next Thursday, 1 April.
The new site will be located at St Wilfrid’s Parish Centre on Church Lane, which is a five-minute walk from the current site at Grappenhall Cricket Club.
The final day of symptom-free testing at Grappenhall Cricket Club will be on Wednesday 31 March, after this the testing provision will be available at St Wilfrid’s Parish Centre. As part of the move, the opening hours of the testing site will change to 8am to 2pm weekdays, and 8.30am to 3.30pm on Saturdays.
The site is in addition to the other symptom-free testing sites at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and Croft Youth and Activity Centre, as well as two new ‘pop up’ testing sites in Burtonwood and Lymm, which open this week.
The list of people who can get a symptom-free test has also expanded to anyone who needs to leave their home, due to some restrictions being carefully eased this month. Households and people in a support or childcare bubble with school pupils, as well as school staff can also now get twice-weekly rapid lateral flow tests to help identify symptom-free COVID cases and reduce transmission. The testing will also be offered to adults working in the wider school community, including bus drivers and after school club leaders.
Anyone who visits the council’s rapid testing sites must have no coronavirus symptoms. If you have any coronavirus symptoms, no matter how mild, you need to self-isolate and book an NHS (PCR) test immediately via the government’s website.
If you have been tested at a symptom-free testing site and receive a positive result, you are not required to take any other confirmatory tests and should self-isolate as required by law. If you receive a positive Lateral Flow Test as part of a home testing programme, or if you work for the NHS, in adult social care, or you are a cross-channel haulier, you should get a confirmatory NHS (PCR) test.
Thara Raj, Director of Public Health, said: “It’s great to see people are making the most of the access to free testing, particularly if they have had to leave home to work or provide care over recent months.
“The move to St Wilfrid’s Parish Centre comes at a time when more people will need to access testing as schools and colleges have re-opened, so I would urge everyone that has been getting a regular test to keep up the hard work, and anyone else who needs to get a test when restrictions are eased should do so. Lateral Flow Tests take very little time to do, and within the hour you will know if you have COVID-19, meaning you can self-isolate immediately and reduce the risk of spreading the virus to others.”
To find out more about coronavirus testing, visit warrington.gov.uk/testandtrace
