ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — In response to high demand, St. Louis County is temporarily expanding its program for free PCR COVID-19 tests to four more library locations.
St. Louis County Library has handed out the kits at its Weber Road and Rock Road branches since Jan. 24, and the program was temporarily expanded to the Lewis and Clark branch earlier this week. They will now be available at a total of seven branches starting Wednesday:
- Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., Oakville
- Grant’s View Branch, 9700 Musick Rd., St. Louis County
- Lewis & Clark Branch, 9909 Lewis-Clark Blvd., Moline Acres
- Meramec Valley Branch, 1501 San Simeon Way, Fenton
- Oak Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., Oakland
- Rock Road Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd., St. Ann
- Weber Road Branch 4444 Weber Rd., St. Louis County
Kits are limited to two per person and can only be reserved by calling 314-994-3300. In-person reservations will not be accepted. Each branch is now providing up to 100 kits per day, up from the original limit of 25 per day.
Also Wednesday, the Eureka Fire Protection District distributed health department test kits at the Eureka Community Center at 333 Bald Hill Rd. The department ran out of the kits after handing out 1,000 of them in less than three hours. They are planning a second event in the future with the date yet to be decided.
The county announced Monday that free saliva test kits will also be available at the North County Recreation Complex from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday. No appointments are necessary; residents can drive up to the site on 2577 Redman Ave. and the kits will be brought to their car.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said that they'll continue handing out kits next week if the demand remains high.
"We're all prepared to bring as many test kits to the complex as necessary to meet the demand," Page said.
The PCR tests use saliva and must be turned in for testing before results can be determined.
Recipients can perform the tests themselves and then drop them off at one of the COVID-19 testing drop-off sites operated by the county's health department, so the department can run the tests. Do not try to return the kits where they were picked up.
Results will be available within 24-72 hours.
You can drop them off Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the following locations:
- John C. Murphy Health Center, 6121 North Hanley Rd., Berkeley
- North Central Community Health Center, 4000 Jennings Station Rd., Pine Lawn
- South County Health Center, 4580 South Lindbergh Blvd., Sunset Hills
The county also has three permanent drive-thru testing sites at the locations listed above and one temporary site at the North County Recreation Complex.
Page said between the new temporary site and three permanent sites, the county can schedule 3,925 appointments per week.
The new temporary testing site is meeting its 200 tests per day goal and hopes to add more in the future.
Click here for more information about the county health department's testing sites. For more information about the library testing kits, contact the St. Louis County Department of Public Health or the library at 314-994-3300.
You can listen to Page's full briefing explaining the expansion here: