Hayward opening free COVID-19 testing facility Monday

HAYWARD, Calif (KTVU) - The City of Hayward is launching a coronavirus testing center on Monday.

In the announcement, the City announced it is opening the facility "so sick people, first responders, and healthcare workers with recent suspected exposures to the novel coronavirus can be tested for infection."

The facility will be at Hayward Fire Station #7, located at 28270 Huntwood Avenue, near Tennyson Road and Tennyson Park.

The testing center will operate everyday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will be staffed by Hayward city firefighter-paramedics and emergency-medical technicians.

The test is free to the public, no matter where they live or immigration status.

A referral from a doctor is not needed, but people must first go through a 2-step screening process, before being administered the test, which involves swabbing of the nasal cavities and back of the throat.

People will be checked out for an illness, such as a fever, cough, shortness of breath or other respiratory symptoms.

“Suppression, through isolation after testing, or SIT, as we call it, is an approach that has proven to be most effective in countries on the leading edge of this pandemic,” said Hayward Fire Chief Garrett Contreras.

The center will have 350 kits daily, and is a partnership between the Hayward Fire Department and Avellino Lab USA, Inc., a Menlo Park gene therapy and molecular diagnostics firm that specializes in eyecare medication.

Avellino and the fire department say they will work with other Bay Area communities in hopes of opening similar centers elsewhere.

More information can be found at the City of Hayward's coronavirus response page, Hayward Pandemic Response

or Hayward COVID-19 Hotline: 510-583-4949, which is staffed everyday between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.