FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2020
County of Santa Clara and San Jose Sharks Team Up for Additional Testing
Santa Clara County, CA – Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the San Jose Sharks are teaming up to provide residents with free and easy walk-up COVID-19 testing at SAP Center at San Jose. The new location has the ability to test up to 1,000 people per day from June 23-27.
No appointment, health insurance, or doctor’s note is needed, and free testing is available regardless of immigration status. Testing at SAP Center will be available from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, June 23-26, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 27.
“We continue our drive to make testing as easy and convenient as possible for all residents of Santa Clara County,” said County of Santa Clara President of the Board of Supervisors Cindy Chavez. “This opportunity presents a new location centrally located in the county.”
Everyone who visits SAP for COVID-19 testing will receive a memorabilia item (one each) featuring either the San Jose Sharks or San Jose Barracuda, courtesy of the San Jose Sharks. In addition, one randomly selected person getting tested will receive a free San Jose Sharks hockey jersey. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation is partnering with the County on the event. Druva and Majestic Sales are also donating 500 PPE care packages, with a pair of gloves, a mask, and sanitizing wipes, for the first 500 residents to be tested.
“It is our privilege to partner with the County of Santa Clara to provide free COVID-19 testing at SAP Center at San Jose,” said Sharks Sports & Entertainment President Jonathan Becher. “Although we cannot currently host and entertain the millions of sports and entertainment fans located throughout the Bay Area, it is important that we do our part to help reduce the transmission of this virus. I want to offer a special thanks to our partners, Druva and Majestic Sales, for their generous contributions to our residents on behalf of the County of Santa Clara and the Sharks.”
Although every Santa Clara County resident can now get a free nasal swab test, these pop-up locations are most appropriate for individuals who do not have any symptoms but who are at higher risk because they work in frontline settings or because they’ve had significant interaction with members of the public. This includes grocery store clerks, construction workers, retail associates, first responders, and other workers, as well as individuals who regularly ride public transit or have recently attended a mass gathering.
There are now at least 57 COVID-19 test locations in Santa Clara County, including those at community centers and schools, hospitals and clinics, and pop-up testing centers. Two just opened this past Friday. Testing can identify COVID-19 before a person feels unwell and/or before they spread it to another individual with potentially deadly consequences.
For individuals experiencing symptoms or who have come into close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, the Public Health Department strongly recommends getting tested by calling a doctor or scheduling an appointment through one of the community-based, drive-through sites.
All County test sites and additional sites operated by other organizations are mapped on the County’s website at sccfreetest.org. The site is available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Tagalog. Information is also available by calling 2-1-1.
Take a video tour of a pop-up testing site: youtube.com/watch?v=zjLBKyVha5M.
Sharkie, the San Jose Sharks mascot, recently got tested, too! Check out the video.
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Public Health Facebook: www.facebook.com/sccpublichealth
Public Health Website: www.sccgov.org/coronavirus