Center for rapid COVID-19 testing opens in Upper St. Clair
Zoe Rivet prepares to be tested outside of GS Labs.
The GS Labs location in Upper St. Clair is at 100 Siena Drive, Suite 230.
What used to feel simply like a cold coming on tends to be cause for a lot more concern these days.
“Let’s say today, I wake up and am feeling a little bit under the weather, and I’m supposed to see my parents later,” Zoe Rivet said. “And I don’t want to be around them without that peace of mind, that I’m not going to be spreading anything to them.”
To help area residents make sure they’re on the safe side, Omaha, Neb.-based GS Labs has opened two rapid COVID-19 testing centers in the Pittsburgh area, one at 100 Siena Drive, Suite 230, in Upper St. Clair. As community outreach coordinator, Rivet is spreading the word about the services that are available and how to arrange for a same-day test.
The first step, she said, is to visit the GS Labs website and search for testing locations, with Siena Drive location accessible at gslabstesting.com/covid-rapid-testing-upper-st-clair. Appointments are taken in three-minute intervals, and when the scheduled time arrives, have a valid form of identification ready.
“You pull into an assigned parking space, and then somebody will come to check you in,” Rivet said, including logging insurance information. “A nurse will come out and administer your test, and then you just simply drive away afterward and your results will come to your email.”
Staff members are dressed in a full array of personal protective equipment, she noted, “everything from gloves to gowns to face masks and face shields.”
GS Labs conducts two types of testing, for antigens, to detect whether a person is currently infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, and for antibodies, which indicate a past infection.
“I’ve had both tests done, so I can speak from experience,” Rivet said. “The rapid antigen test is a nasal swab. They take a little cotton swab and stick it up your nose, and they’ll do both nostrils. It’s, honestly, not the most comfortable test, but it’s super easy.”
The antibody test involves a finger prick to draw a small blood sample.
According to Rivet, a person can learn about his or her status in as short a time as 20 minutes after testing.
“I think that’s been the biggest positive to it, because you’re not waiting two to five days, a week, to get the results,” she said. “It’s so quick, which has been really nice to have.”
GS Labs strives for accuracy in results.
“We have licensed nurses who are administering all of your tests and being able to take care of you,” Rivet said. “They have background information and knowledge on everything that they’re doing.”
Since opening in Omaha in the fall, GS Labs has expanded to 14 states, from Oregon and Washington to New Jersey. The Upper St. Clair and McCandless centers are the first in Pennsylvania.
“We are here for everybody, and if there are businesses that want to be able to buy tests for their employees who might not even have insurance, they are welcome to do that, too,” Rivet said. “We are open to building partnerships.”
From her point of view, what GS Labs offers continues to be essential.
“While there’s hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines coming out, we still feel that testing today is as important as it was at the beginning of the pandemic,” she said. “It’s going to take everybody to kind of come together and really end this thing, so ensuring that you’re safe helps everybody around you.”
For more information, visit www.gslabstesting.com.