You might not have seen them, unless you live in a rural area of Saskatchewan but mobile COVID-19 testing kicked off in the province in July.

Patty Couture Director of Primary Care for northeast area says you don’t have to have had contact with any positive COVID cases nor do you need to be symptomatic to access mobile testing.

She says it is a nasopharyngeal swab.

“We actually tell people that you probably will feel like you have to sneeze after. Often people feel like they have to hold their nostril of which nostril we’ve used just because it pinches a little bit, but it’s not….we haven’t put anybody in tears yet. We’ve done everybody from the very young to the very, very old and nobody’s really complained too much.”

Friday they are in Birch Hills 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The Mobile testing van rolls out every Thursday and Friday and has also, when invited, has gone out to the Hutterite colonies.

Couture says the uptake has been great with communities really getting behind the program.

“I think that’s the main thing, providing service as close to home as possible. People not having to make an appointment, take time off work, travel, or change their vacation plans in order to go get a test. It makes it convenient and it’s less time consuming for individuals.”

Couture says they have had a low of 50 people turn out and a high of 170. The test is conducted in the mobile testing van and then sent off to the provincial lab to be analyzed. They usually advertise where the mobile testing van will be, on the SHA website, as well as with town and RM offices in local areas, and on social media.