Framingham calls for all residents to get tested

FRAMINGHAM – Sam Wong, Framingham’s public health director, is urging all city residents who haven’t had a COVID test to get one.

Wong said because Framingham is in the high-risk COVID red zone, there is an increased level of community transmission of the novel coronavirus.

“We recommend any resident that has not been tested, it’s important for them to get tested,” Wong said.

Framingham’s two-week average of new confirmed COVID-19 cases is 11.4 per 100,000 residents. The number exceeds the red zone floor of 8 cases per 100,000 people.

On Monday, the city reported 24 new COVID cases since Friday.

Wong stressed testing will identify positive cases that result in quarantine and contact tracing to limit the spread of the virus.

The exact number of Framingham residents who have been tested for COVID-19 is unknown. Wong believes it’s less than the more than 28,000 COVID tests reported in Framingham this year by the state Department of Public Health. Some residents have been tested multiple times, Wong said, so 28,000 is not a true reflection of the exact number.

“COVID fatigue” has set in, according to Wong, which means people want the pandemic to go away. But for the city to fall back into the safer yellow or green COVID zones, Wong said all Framingham residents who haven’t had a COVID test should get tested.

“The sooner to get the pandemic behind us, the sooner to go back to the yellow or green categories, we need every resident to get tested,” Wong said. “We can find the infected, and contain the spread.”

“Hopeful” is the word Wong used when asked if residents will take personal responsibility to get themselves tested. There is no legal requirement to get tested.

The city has taken steps to reduce barriers to the city’s three COVID testing sites, Wong said. One is making the test free to those who are asymptomatic or don’t have health insurance.

Lines are also moving faster. Testing at Staples takes less than an hour, Wong said, compared to the three- to four-hour wait at the former drive-up testing site at Joseph P. Keefe Technical High School.

Lab results are also coming back quicker – in less than 24 hours, according to Wong.

When the three testing locations reach maximum capacity, Wong said Framingham will work with the state to open more testing sites.

Drive-up testing is located at Staples headquarters, 500 Staples Drive (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.). The city’s two walk-up locations are atac: downtown arts + music (formerly Amazing Things Arts Center), 160 Hollis St. (Tuesday and Thursday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.) and South Middlesex Opportunity Council, 7 Bishop St. (Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 3 p.m.-6 p.m.)

Framingham is partnering with Fallon Ambulance to test residents – especially the elderly – who can’t get to the three testing sites.

Fallon Ambulance recently finished COVID testing of those living in buildings operated by the Framingham Housing Authority. The number of tests administered to housing authority residents is unknown at this time, Wong said.

Testing of elderly Framingham residents living in nonprofit and for-profit assisting-living facilities is also underway by Fallon Ambulance.

Some assisted-living facility operators are struggling to test staff and residents, because there are no state funds to pay for testing, Wong said.

Henry Schwan is the health reporter for the Daily News. Follow Henry on Twitter @henrymetrowest. He can be reached at hschwan@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-3964.