State announces new COVID-19 testing site in Blaine

Pop-up site will offer swab testing to everyone, as part of a collaboration with federal government

Today, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced a new COVID-19 testing site in the Victory Links Golf Course Parking Lot at the National Sports Center in Blaine, part of a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Testing at this site will occur Monday, Dec. 7 through Saturday, Dec. 12. The site will be set up as a drive-thru, with participants self-administering a nasal swab test. The site has capacity for 10,000 tests over the course of the six days. Appointments are strongly encouraged, but not required.

“Testing is a key component of our strategy to protect Minnesotans from COVID-19,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm. “Through a robust, collaborative statewide testing program, we have made great progress in removing obstacles to testing. When combined with social distancing, masking, avoiding crowds and staying home when sick, testing can help us slow the spread of COVID-19 and bridge to the better days we know are coming.”

“Our COVID-19 testing strategy has been data-driven since day one with the goal of offering no-barrier testing for every Minnesotan who needs it. The sooner we identify positive cases, the sooner infected individuals can take steps to isolate and stop the spread of the virus,” said Dan Huff, MDH assistant commissioner for health protection. “Our partnerships from the federal to the local levels are an important element of a community testing strategy that has allowed the state to conduct more than half a million COVID-19 tests in all corners of the state. We want people to get tested, even if they're asymptomatic. By providing more options, we make it more likely that people will get tested and help us stop the spread of the virus.”

This testing event is part of a federal effort to provide temporary federal support in areas that have seen a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. These sites are made up of three components: federal government support, federal contractor support, and state and local support.

The Blaine site is a coordinated effort between the State of Minnesota, HHS, the Minnesota National Guard, Anoka County Public Health, the National Sports Center, and eTrueNorth (eTN). The State of Minnesota and National Guard are providing support, including non-medical personnel, site management, and traffic control. HHS is providing resources such as personal protective equipment, cloth face coverings and community mitigation guidance. The federal contractor, eTrueNorth, is providing support including online registration, test kits, test processing, and notification of lab results. eTrueNorth will notify participants of their test results via email within approximately three to five days.

“Anoka County Public Health is pleased to be partnering with federal, state, and local partners to set up a COVID-19 surge testing site,” said Jonelle Hubbard, director of Anoka County Public Health and Environmental Services. “Having the testing event at the National Sports Center in Blaine will truly enhance our testing capacity. Our public health department will work diligently to ensure the testing will happen successfully to best serve our community.”

“We are pleased to work with MDH to provide a site for community testing in the North Metro,” said Todd M. Johnson, MPH, executive director of the National Sports Center Foundation. “We know that it will take a collaborative effort to fight this virus and we will do what we can to serve the community.”

Testing is open to anyone who believes they need a COVID-19 test, with or without insurance. State guidance on who should get tested was recently updated and can be found on the Minnesota COVID-19 Response webpage, Who Should Get Tested?.

"The Trump Administration is standing up surge testing sites to support areas hard hit by COVID-19.  Surge testing is one of many tools the federal government can deploy to assist local leadership to reduce community spread of the virus," said HHS Assistant Secretary for Health ADM Brett Giroir, M.D. "The intent of surge testing efforts is to help state, local and federal public health experts identify new cases, including those that may be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic."

Individuals seeking testing can register at Do I Need a COVID-19 Test?. Test results can be accessed by logging into this same portal after receiving an email notification that results are ready.

Testing Site Location:

National Sports Center
Victory Links Golf Course - parking lot
2010 105th Ave NE
Blaine, MN 55449

Hours of Operation:
Monday, Dec. 7 - Friday, Dec. 11
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 12
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-MDH-