Free COVID testing to continue at Blaisdell, Waikiki Shell
CRAIG T. KOJIMA /CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Cars line up for Covid -19 testing at Blaisdell Center on Oct. 21.
City and County of Honolulu officials Tuesday said free COVID-19 testing will be available for Oahu residents at the Blaisdell Center and Waikiki Shell to meet the continued needs of the community.
The RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) testing at both locations will be operated by the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii and funded through the Hawaii Department of Health.
The schedule will be as follows, starting today, weather permitting:
>> Neal Blaisdell Center, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday to Friday. Drive-thru and walk-in testing available.
>> Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Sunday. Walk-in testing available.
Testing at the Waikiki Shell will not be available Saturday and Sunday, however, due to Honolulu Marathon events. Testing at the Waikiki Shell and Blaisdell Center also will be closed on Christmas and New Year’s days. Both testing sites will operate from 9 a.m. to noon on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
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“Mahalo to the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii and the Department of Health for offering this vital resource for the people of the City and County of Honolulu,” said Hiro Toiya, director of the Department of Emergency Management in a news release.
He added, “With more of our community getting back to the activities we so desperately need, testing remains a key piece to allowing us to move forward safely. Along with getting vaccinated, testing is a valuable tool in our arsenal to continue to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and any future variants.”
Registration is available at alohaclear.com/home/ department/doh.
For more information, call 808-501-1909 or email support@preventcovidhi.com. More details on COVID-19 testing sites statewide are also available at preventcovidhi.com.
Hawaii Department of Health officials on Tuesday reported 55 new confirmed and probable coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 88,440 cases. No new virus-related fatalities were reported Tuesday so the statewide death toll remains 1,033. About 72.1% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated.
According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 36 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Tuesday, with eight in intensive care units and five on ventilators.
