Gov. Walz Announces Additional COVID-19 Saliva Testing Sites Around Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn.– Last month, Minnesota’s first ever saliva testing site for COVID-19 opened in Duluth at the DECC.

As the no barriers testing continues, Governor Tim Walz announced that the state is opening more sites for saliva testing going forward.

Soon Duluth won’t be the only place in Minnesota where you can get your hands on a COVID-19 saliva test. The state continues to expand its testing capacity that has already increased 65 percent since early September.

The state will be opening up two new saliva testing sites this week. A facility will be opening Wednesday down in Winona and another one Saturday in Moorhead. Brooklyn Park will open a site next week, making it the first one in the Twin Cities.

State health officials are working to finalize details for six more sites around the state, with two in greater Minnesota and four more in the Twin Cities.

The governor said that with neighboring states in the Midwest seeing COVID-19 cases spike, expanding testing statewide is even more crucial to slow the spread.

“We want to cut off that community spread by making sure that people get tested as easily, as quickly, and as close to their homes as they possibly can,” said Governor Walz.

Samples are currently being sent to a lab in New Jersey for testing, and it takes two to three days for results to come back. But a new processing lab will be opening next week in Oakdale, Minnesota which will speed up the results.

Duluth Mayor Emily Larson also spoke on the success of the state’s first site that’s tested around 8,000 people so far. She says the no-barriers testing are giving residents more peace of mind as they go about the community.

“I cannot say enough about what this means for people in Duluth,” said Larson. “To feel like ‘Wow, I’m making sacrifices and now I can figure out what my risk level is or how often that happens.'”

The governor also said the state is expecting to launch a pilot program in the coming weeks for mail-in saliva testing that can be done right from your home. The pilot program will include counties from all around the state.