UPDATED REPORT: Health Director: Every Framingham Resident Needs To Get Tested For COVID-19

Editor’s Note: SOURCE sent Health Director Sam Wong several questions on Tuesday morning, September. The responses are added below.

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FRAMINGHAM – Framingham Health Director Sam Wong said every resident of the City of Framingham needs to get tested for COVID-19.

Framingham has been a red or high-risk community for the tranmission of the coronavirus for the last couple of weeks.

Wong told the Framingham Library Trustees tonight, September 21, he wants every resident who has not been tested for the coronavirus to get tested.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has set up three FREE testing sites in the City of Framingham.

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There is a drive-thru free COVID testing site is available for all residents at Staples HQ in Framingham from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

There is a walk-up free testing site at SMOC HQ at 7 Bishop Street from 3 to 6 p.m. on Mondays. Wednesdays, and Fridays.

There is a free walk-up testing site at Amazing Things Arts Center on Hollis Street from 3 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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“We need more people to get tested so we can identify people who are asymptomatic for the virus and who are out there spreading the virus,’ said Wong.

“We are recommending every resident to go get tested,” said Wong.

Anyone who thinks they have been exposed to someone who tested positive or has been at a large gathering, should also get tested, per the state’s guidelines.

SOURCE: Do you want all children and teens to get tested too?  

Wong: Yes

SOURCE: What is the reasoning behind everyone get tested. I know you said to the trustees about asymptomatic persons?  

Wong: Covid affects each person differently.  Not everyone infected will develop symptoms, and not everyone who has symptoms will have the same ones.  Many that were infected develop very mild symptoms and even asymptomatic.  We want to make sure that we are identifying them so we can isolate and do contact tracing in order to stop the spread of the disease.

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SOURCE: But in reality is someone is tested today on Tuesday, and If they don’t stay in isolation they could be positive on Wednesday. So why should thousands of residents go get tested?  

Wong: I’m not sure if I fully understand your question.  I read it three times and I’m still not sure.  Testing is only way to be sure that if someone is infected.  Once we are able to identify residents that have been infected, we can then effectively isolate them, and do the contact tracing to quarantine close contacts. 

SOURCE: Do you know what percentage of the City’s roughly 70,000 residents have already been tested once? Is that info available to the City via the state database?  

Wong: The state publishes the testing data by community on a weekly basis.  Based on last week’s data (published on Wednesday last week), there were 28,369 tests conducted for Framingham residents since the beginning of the pandemic.  Please note that the 28k number is total tests, not total number of individuals tested.  Some individuals got tested more than once.

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