GreeneStreets. Feature photo of a back country road in Greene County, Indiana.

Indiana Health Department announces changes to testing operations

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) is making several changes to testing operations due to high demand and a national shortage of rapid test kits.

  • Hours are being extended at the community testing and vaccination clinic outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays through Jan. 22. The changes are effective today.

  • The clinic, which is being held in the INDYCAR parking lot at 4551 W. 16th St., Indianapolis, across from Gate 2, will accept walk-ins only from noon to 4 p.m.

  • The two-dose Pfizer pediatric and adult vaccines, as well as the two-dose Moderna vaccine, are available.

  • Also effective today, rapid tests at state and local health department testing sites will only be available to individuals aged 18 and younger and symptomatic individuals aged 50 and older. This change is necessary due to the national shortage of rapid antigen tests and is designed to help ensure that students can stay in school and that Hoosiers who are most likely to need a monoclonal antibody are identified within the prescribed window in which they can be administered. Indiana typically uses about 50,000 rapid tests per week but is only guaranteed to receive 11,000 a week at this time.

  • Appointments for rapid tests previously scheduled for today will be honored while testing supplies last, but no appointments for rapid tests will be honored at state or local health department sites going forward except for individuals who fall within the above categories. PCR tests, which are the gold standard, will continue to be offered at all testing sites, with results expected in two to three days.

Click on the testing map at www.coronavirus.in.gov  to find a testing location. Visit ourshot.in.gov to find a vaccination site.