Northampton County closes COVID test/vaccine drive-through site

Northampton County has closed its drive-through COVID-19 testing and vaccine site, but the services will still be offered at other locations.

The county closed the testing/vaccine site Friday (Oct. 14) at Coordinated Health 3100 Emrick Blvd. in Bethlehem Township. The site was a collaboartion with the county’s Department of Community and Economic Development, county Emergency Management Services, and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Coordinated Health Allentown Hospital.

COVID vaccines and boosters will be available by appointments for people 6 months and older at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hecktown Oaks, 3780 Hecktown Road in Lower Nazareth Township.

The appointments will be offered between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. Appointments can be made by calling 833-584-6283 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Walk-in COVID-19 testing is available at two locations:

• Palmer Township Express Care, 3701 Corriere Road, Suite 14, Palmer Township; 8 a.m.-8 p.m., seven days a week.
• Coordinated Health Care on Demand, 2300 Highland Avenue, Bethlehem Township; 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday – Friday, and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday – Sunday.

Participants should bring a photo ID and insurance card, if they have one, to the testing site. All testing will be through Health Network Lab Medicine, unless insurance requires an alternate laboratory.

A doctor’s order is not required for the COVID-19 testing. While the testing sites are open to everyone, only residents of Northampton County will have the cost covered by the county if they do not have health coverage.

The Lehigh Valley’s first COVID case was reported in March 2020, at St. Luke’s Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township. Pennsylvania has seen a total of 3,280,190 cases and a death toll of 47,442 people during the pandemic.

The state has reported 23,755,220 vaccines have been administered, and in the past few weeks the state’s case averages have dropped steadily.

“While the chaos of the early days of COVID is hopefully behind us, the virus is still causing illness in our communities,” Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said. “I want to thank our partners at LVH-CHA for their continued dedication to making these services available to Northampton County residents.”

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Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.