Page 8 - Stop The Spread News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

FRAMINGHAM — A free walk-up COVID-19 test site in downtown Framingham will close after Wednesday because the city's contract with the testing provider is expiring. The test site, at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council on Bishop Street, was originally operated by the state through Gov. Charlie Baker's Stop The Spread initiative. But Framingham recently took over management of the site after the state closed the Bishop Street location in favor of opening a high-throughput, appointment-only, drive-through test site at 484 Franklin St.  The city used CARES Act funding to contract with t...

The program was created in July as a way to provide cost-free surveillance testing to areas with high transmission rates of the novel coronavirus.  Hinds said when it was announced over the summer, the Berkshire delegation was upset to see that there were not any sites in Berkshire County. The closest site for asymptomatic testing for some time was Springfield. "We felt it was important to make sure we had this type of a tool for the region," Hinds said. Berkshire Health Systems, in partnership with the state Department of Public Health, began offering the free testing of asymptomatic in...