CVS Health is opening a pop up pharmacy in New Orleans and two drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Georgia and Rhode Island, the company said April 6.
The pop-up pharmacy in New Orleans will be outside the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center, which is being used as a 1,000-bed coronavirus facility to ease the burden on New Orleans hospitals.
The pharmacy will be run by 26 full-time and part-time pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, who will provide maintenance medication and offer counseling for COVID-19 patients who have been transferred to the convention center. Patients in New Orleans who don't need a ventilator or ICU will be transferred from a hospital to the convention center.
The pop-up pharmacy won't be available to the general public.
CVS Health also is opening two drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Georgia and Rhode Island that will be run by MinuteClinic providers.
The free testing will be held in parking lots.
The company said the locations won't be at CVS Pharmacy or MinuteClinic locations and will be in parking lots that are big enough to accommodate several lanes of cars at once.
People will need to preregister for a testing appointment online and will be eligible for testing if they meet CDC and state guidelines, CVS Health said.
The company plans to use Abbott's new COVID-19 test, which received FDA emergency use authorization March 30 and can deliver results in five to 13 minutes.