Residents enjoying two of the borough’s excellent parks this weekend (17-18 April) will also have the opportunity to get a quick and easy Covid-19 test on the go as part of a pilot testing programme in public spaces.
A mobile testing van will be set up in Mesnes Park, Newton-le-Willows on Saturday, and in Taylor Park on Sunday, both 10am-3pm.
Visitors to the parks can get a supervised test at the testing van or take home a free rapid test kit for later use. Lateral flow tests are easy to use and give a result in less than an hour, because they don’t have to be sent to a lab to be processed.
The programme could soon be rolled out to other public spaces including retail parks, sports clubs and events.
Sue Forster, Director of Public Health at St Helens Borough Council, said: “With one in three people presenting no symptoms, regular testing is a crucial way of breaking the chains of transmission, protecting lives and making sure we keep Covid-19 rates low, as we’ve all worked so hard to achieve in recent months.
“If you’re out in these parks this weekend please consider visiting the mobile testing van. A negative test can give you peace of mind that you’re not unknowingly contributing to the spread. And now that symptom-free testing is open to everyone please make use of the free testing options we have and get tested twice a week to protect our communities.”
If you do not have Covid-19 symptoms, you can walk in, no appointment required, to one of our symptom-free testing stations for a quick, free, supervised test:
- St Mary’s Indoor Market, town centre
- Chester Lane Community Centre, Sutton Manor
- Grange Valley Youth Centre, Haydock
- Torus Housing Office, Newton Road, Parr
- Perth Community Centre, Thatto Heath
at the following times:
- Monday to Friday, 8.30am–6pm
- Saturday and Sunday, 10am–3pm
- Torus Housing Office is open 1pm–6pm, Monday to Friday and 10am–3pm on Saturdays and Sundays
- Perth Community Centre is open 1pm–6pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
You can also walk in to collect a Covid-19 home testing kit from any of the above sites, as well as the following sites (subject to availability):
- Fairclough Street Car Park, Earlestown (Monday to Friday, 2.30pm–8pm)
- Haydock Park Racecourse, Newton-le-Willows (Monday to Friday, 2.30pm–8pm)
There is no need to make an appointment to collect a home test kit. Do not visit a collection site outside of opening hours, as they could be used to test people with coronavirus symptoms outside of these times. If you are 18 or over, you can collect two packs of home test kits; each pack contains seven tests.
You can find out more about testing at www.sthelens.gov.uk/letsgettested including opening hours and how to register for traditional PCR tests too. You can also order home testing kits if you cannot access them from one of our sites via https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
