A test is administered during the STRIDE Community Health Center drive-thru COVID-19 test, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • A test is administered during the STRIDE Community Health Center drive-thru COVID-19 test, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    A test is administered during the STRIDE Community Health Center drive-thru COVID-19 test, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • A test is administered during the STRIDE Community Health Center drive-thru COVID-19 test, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    A test is administered during the STRIDE Community Health Center drive-thru COVID-19 test, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    STRIDE Community Health Center offered drive-thru COVID-19 tests, March 23, 2020 at their Aurora location. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado

AURORA | Aurora welcomed its first drive-thru test site for the new coronavirus this week after STRIDE Community Health Center opened a location in the Del Mar Parkway neighborhood.

The location will be offering drive-thru testing for hospital workers from 8 a.m. to noon, and for the general public from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The operation is housed outside of the STRIDE outpost at 10680 Del Mar Parkway.

Anyone seeking a swab test will have to undergo a brief symptom screening beforehand.

The state health department urges residents to contact their doctor or health care provider prior to getting tested to confirm that a test is necessary. Residents are strongly discouraged from going to an emergency room to get a COVID-19 test.

The STRIDE test site is “not accepting notes from private physicians or employers,” according to information posted to the organization’s Facebook page.

Testing workers are asking hospital staff to display their work ID through their car window upon pulling up to the site. Members of the public are asked to display their general identification card and insurance card in the same manner.

Uninsured residents are welcome to stop by the site as well, according to information presented by STRIDE.

Formerly known as the Metro Community Provider Network, STRIDE is also offering testing for people who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 at the following locations in Aurora: 3292 Peoria St. and 15132 E. Hampden Ave. The same service is being provided at 7495 W. 29th Ave. in Wheat Ridge.

The clinic said wait times are currently longer than usual, and people seeking to get tested are encouraged to arrive at STRIDE locations early.

Nearly 5,500 people had been tested for Covid-19 in the state as of March 22, according to data compiled by the state health department. There have been 591 confirmed cases in Colorado so far, including 45 in Arapahoe County, 18 in Adams County and 33 in Douglas County.