DEARBORN, Mich. – Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr., Police Chief Ronald Haddad and the Dearborn Fire Department worked together to get a new testing site in Dearborn up and running.
It’s the first of its kind in the state of Michigan.
Update April 24 -- Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 36,641; Death toll now at 3,085
Dearborn battalion chief Glenn Owens is a numbers guy. Months ago, he was studying CDC number on coronavirus cases when he realized the city needed to prepare.
“We saw it coming," Owens said. "It was one of those things that you better get ready.”
Owens is also Dearborn’s infectious disease control officer.
“We started seeing trends and we went to the fire chief and said, ‘We need to get on top of this,’” Owens said.
After a lot of teamwork, they came up with the state’s first drive-thru rapid testing site. It’s outside Ford Community & Performing Arts Center on Michigan Avenue. Any first responder from any department can get a test and results in fifteen minutes.
Inside is room for 200 first responders to stay if they test positive and don’t want to risk spreading the virus to their families.
Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist toured the set up a few days ago.
“The city of Dearborn has stepped up to provide not just for their city but for western Wayne County," Gilchrist said.
The first 45 test were done on first responders had one positive case.
Dearborn officials will continue to work on getting as many tests as they can to test as many first responders as they can.
Anyone who believes they might have coronavirus should follow the CDC guidelines. Michigan.gov has a list of resources available to those concerned about COVID-19.
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