Thank you Trinity Property Management!
Cambridge Pandemic Collaborative Formed to Coordinate Covid-19 Testing
The City of Cambridge announced today that it will begin offering COVID-19 testing for residents seven days a week at expanded locations, as part of a strategic initiative to coordinate testing and COVID-19 vaccine distribution. The initiative is led by the City’s newly established Cambridge Pandemic Collaborative (CPC).
The CPC’s mission is to create a public and private partnership to help ensure the health and safety of Cambridge residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Collaborative will create a long-term, sustainable, and scalable structure for testing and COVID-19 vaccine distribution, when the vaccine becomes available. The CPC completed its first task this week with the finalization of the expansion plan for the City’s COVID-19 testing program, which began offering free testing to the community in April.
Beginning Sunday, November 1, 2020, a new drive-through COVID-19 testing site will be available on Sundays and Thursdays at CambridgeSide in East Cambridge. Appointments for testing will be available from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. The CambridgeSide testing site is located in the upper parking garage on First Street. The upper parking garage will be used for COVID-19 testing only. This is a drive-thru site and there is no access to the testing site from inside CambridgeSide or from the lower parking garage.
Testing will be available every Saturday (except October 31) at the Pisani Center at 131 Washington Street from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., 50 Church Street (former Fire and Ice) on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from 12:00 – 8:00 p.m., and at St. John the Evangelist Church at 2254 Massachusetts Avenue on Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Testing at 50 Church Street will begin on Monday, November 9, 2020.
Appointments can be scheduled online at www.Cambridgema.gov/testing
“Recent public health data tell a sobering story and remind us that the pandemic is far from over. We know that testing is one of many evidence-based tools we can deploy to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” said Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and City Manager Louis A. DePasquale in a joint statement. “Through this new collaborative, we will be able to provide our residents with greater access to COVID-19 testing. We especially want to thank CambridgeSide, Trinity Property Management, the Cambridge Housing Authority, and St. John the Evangelist Church for partnering with us to provide these key testing locations.”
The CPC will create a testing and vaccination structure that will last through the end of the pandemic by focusing on three key elements. First, CPC will focus on providing widely accessible COVID-19 testing. Next, it will incorporate flu vaccinations into the existing testing structure. And finally, it creates a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination program that will be added to the project.
“As infections continue to rise in Massachusetts, it is critical that residents have improved access to COVID-19 testing,” said Claude A. Jacob, Chief Public Health Officer and director of the Cambridge Public Health Department. “Seven-day-a-week testing in multiple neighborhoods will help meet the growing demand for this important city-funded service. I applaud the city’s leadership and our partners for their outstanding commitment to the health and well-being of residents.”
As with any large community effort, significant partnerships are required, and Cambridge is fortunate to have many community partners willing to engage in this effort. Pro EMS and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have been key partners for COVID testing in Cambridge since day one. As part of the City’s expanded testing program, CambridgeSide is providing its First Street Upper Parking Garage, which will allow for large-scale drive-through services, Trinity Property Management is providing space at their 50 Church Street location in Harvard Square, St. John the Evangelist Church will continue to provide space in North Cambridge, and the Cambridge Housing Authority will also continue providing space at the Pisani Center in The Port.
Members of the CPC include representatives of the City Manager’s Office, Cambridge Public Health Department, Cambridge Fire Department, Cambridge Police Department, Pro EMS, Cambridge Housing Authority, Mount Auburn Hospital, CambridgeSide, Trinity Property Management, St. John the Evangelist Church, Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
For more information and to sign up to receive updates on COVID-19, please visit the City’s dedicated information page: https://www.cambridgema.gov/covid19