A Menlo Park biotech company is offering COVID-19 tests and will be open to the public daily.
Avellino Lab, which specializes in gene therapy and molecular diagnostics, is conducting PCR swab tests seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the company announced on Friday, Jan. 28. The site is located by the office's west parking lot at 4300 Bohannon Drive.
An appointment won't be required, according to Angela Lapre, global head of corporate communications. Patients will register on-site and will be asked for health insurance.
Lapre said the company will follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control Prevention and aim to provide test results within 48 hours. "But that could quickly change if there's another spike," she said.
Avellino uses its own COVID-19 tests that were given Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in 2020. The company processes the samples at its laboratory 4.5 miles away from headquarters. The lab is certified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments program, which allows a lab to accept human samples for diagnostic testing.
At its peak, the lab can process up to 30,000 tests, according to Lapre.
Lapre said the company decided to open the testing site as a way to support the community amid the surge of coronavirus cases due to the Omicron variant.
"We just wanted another lever to be able to support the community at an even more direct capacity, right in our backyard in our headquarter parking lot," she said.
Avellino operates additional testing sites in San Jose and Cupertino. To date, Avellino has conducted more than 2.5 million COVID-19 tests, according to a press release.
The Menlo Park site will be open "as long as demand warrants," Lapre said.
To find more testing sites within San Mateo County, visit smcgov.org.
