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The continued presence of COVID-19 in the community and the rise of cases recently has led the city of Franklin to partner with the Virginia Department of Health on a new, drive-through testing event.

This will be in addition to the walk-in testing event at the Southampton Memorial Hospital – Satellite Lab that is ongoing on Wednesdays.

“We are continuing to see cases rise,” Franklin City Manager Amanda C. Jarratt said to the City Council during its meeting Monday, Jan. 24. “Cumulatively, we’re now at 2,290 cases — again, that’s from March 2020 — 84 hospitalizations, 43 deaths.”

She said the city’s seven-day average of cases had come down to 19 per day. 

“It was close to 30 per day when I checked last week, so that is an improvement,” she said. “We are testing more, so I think that does add to the numbers increasing, and the omicron variant, as has been discussed nationally, is quite contagious.

“But we are partnering with the Virginia Department of Health to do drive-through testing at the Armory Recreation parking lot,” she said. “So that’s going to start this Wednesday, and that’ll be from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.”

She noted that the tests administered at this event would be polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

“It’s almost impossible to get rapid tests at this point, but if someone is in need of (PCR) testing, we are going to be doing that in collaboration with the health department,” she said. “You can walk up as well or drive up to be tested.”

There is also a free weekly PCR testing event being held in Franklin from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. every Wednesday through the end of February at the Southampton Memorial Hospital – Satellite Lab, which is located at 102 Fairview Drive. For inquiries on this event, call 757-514-4766.