The City of Alhambra announced Wednesday the details of its free COVID-19 testing plans for Alhambra residents, saying the program will run from May 4 to May 29.

Using special funding from a Community Development Block Grant, Alhambra’s site will be staffed and run by Vital Medical Services, which has a contract with the city to provide the service.

“Testing is crucial in our effort to save lives,” said Mayor Ross J. Maza in a statement released by the city. 

The testing details came as Los Angeles County released new details on the numbers of deaths and overall cases in the county. Deaths are now listed by city and Alhambra has four who succumbed to the virus. However, it was not immediately clear when or where those deaths occurred. 

At present, the closest test site for Alhambra residents is at East Los Angeles College, which is part of a program administered by Los Angeles County.

Alhambra’s testing will be done by appointment only, available for those driving up or arriving by bus or on foot. It will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, as long as testing supplies last. The testing site will be located on Second Street just south of Main Street across from Alhambra High School. Second street is a one-way street going south from Main Street at that location.

At recent city council meetings representatives from Vital Medical Services suggested that day-by-day testing capacity will depend on the number of appointments booked but it was believed that the Alhambra site could handle between 80 and 100 tests each day.

The nasal swab test will be administer by a licensed health care professional and takes between five and 10 minutes. Result times range from 12 to 48 hours.

Alhambra residents who are exhibiting symptoms of fever, cough, shortness of breath and who are subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine period due to a confirmed COVID-19 exposure (with more than seven days of quarantine remaining) are eligible for testing.

     Priority will be given to:

• Those with symptoms who have underlying chronic health conditions
• Those with symptoms who are 65 and older
• Residents who are low income

For more information and appointments, those wishing tests must first fill out a questionnaire that can be found in several languages on the city’s website at https://www.cityofalhambra.org/resources/coronavirus-testing.