Drive-thru testing site to open Wednesday at Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo

Beginning tomorrow, April 22nd, FEMA will be conducting free drive-thru testing for COVID-19 at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo for certain groups of people who have shown symptoms of the coronavirus.

FEMA is moving its drive-thru testing site from El Paso County to the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo County. If you’d like to be tested you must fall under the following categories: emergency response, health care workers, and anyone age 65 and older.

Test recipients need to show symptoms of the COVID-19 virus, including shortness of breath, coughing, and a fever above 100.4.

“At this testing site we have the capability of providing 250 tests a day," said Sarah Joseph with Pueblo’s Health Department.

Joseph says these results are desperately needed. Pueblo County has 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far. However, the full scope of the virus in Pueblo is still unclear.

“In Pueblo, unfortunately, tests have been really low and difficult to come by," said Joseph. "We don’t have a true sense of how many cases are out here. These tests will give us better surveillance and a better look at how many cases COVID-19 are in Pueblo especially as we are beginning to open back up our community.”

In the coming weeks, the drive-thru testing will include critical workforce members. It is still unclear who that will include.

Testing will be held every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday starting April 22 and ending on May 30.

Health officials urge test recipients to come by yourself, without passengers or pets.