The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, in conjunction with the Missouri National Guard, will be providing free testing for COVID-19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7, at the Swine Barn on the Missouri State Fairgrounds.

According to the Pettis County There is no charge for this testing, and everyone needs to register at www.health.mo.gov/communitytest.

If an individual does not have access to the internet, they are encouraged to call the COVID-19 Information Line at (877) 435-8411 for assistance. You do not have to have symptoms to be tested.

The testing clinic is primarily drive-thru. Cars will enter the Fairgrounds through the Clarendon Road gate and follow the signs. This is the same path that was used during the June testing event.

Health-department officials say in order to help slow the spread of the virus in the community, testing is important. Not everyone has symptoms, but everyone who is positive can spread the virus.

At this time, the county has over 1,200 positive cases, with the highest weekly case count and largest number of active cases happening in the last two weeks of September. Sedalia and Pettis County are once again in the Red Zone, according the report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Until there is a vaccine available, the tools available to help slow the spread of the virus continue to be wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, frequent hand washing, use of hand sanitizer and staying home if you are ill. Knowing if you have the virus is extremely important because not everyone has symptoms, according to health-department officials.

Health-department officials also say, “We all acknowledge that staying home in isolation or quarantine is disruptive for everyone involved. If we want to keep our children in school and be able to visit loved ones in long term care facilities, we must work together as a community to bring down the number of cases in our county. As the week’s event have proven, the Coronavirus does not care who the individual may be. The virus only seeks a person who is not immune in order to continue to make more virus and continue to spread. Everyone is strongly encouraged to follow the well-documented guidelines to help slow the spread.”