Three days of COVID-19 testing to begin Wednesday

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Three days of free COVID-19 testing will be held in Richland County beginning Wednesday at Rice Creek Elementary School, located at 4751 Hardscrabble Road.

Zip codes 29223 and 29229, where the school is located, have the highest and second-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina. The 29223 zip code had 181 confirmed and 1,112 estimated cases as of May 3, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data, while 29229 had 145 confirmed and 891 estimated cases.

Richland County leads the state with 977 confirmed and 6,002 estimated cases.

The testing will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Individuals can be tested without a doctor referral and or whether or not they are experiencing symptoms, according to a news release from the S.C. House Democratic Caucus.

DHEC announced 135 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and eight additional deaths, bringing S.C.’s confirmed totals to 6,757 cases and 283 deaths. Thirteen of the new cases and two deaths were reported in Richland County.

A press conference highlighting the testing will be held Tuesday at 11:45 a.m. at the S.C. Statehouse.

For more information, contact Perry Bradley, CEO of Building Better Communities, at 803-908-7775 or Rep. Ivory Thigpen, D-Columbia, at 803-699-8189.