DC to expand free, walk-up coronavirus testing Monday

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People wear protective masks as they spend time on the National Mall on May 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day large groups of people gathered outdoors to watch the the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds as they flew over the D.C. area in tribut

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WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia is doubling the number of firehouses conducting free walk-up coronavirus tests.

Starting Monday there will be four firehouses testing visitors for coronavirus six days a week.

These are the fire stations conducting the tests:

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Engine 4 (2531 Sherman Ave NW)
Engine 11 (3420 14th St NW)
Engine 24 (5101 Georgia Ave NW)
Engine 31 (4930 Connecticut Ave NW)

Thursday and Friday, 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Engine 8 (1520 C St SE)
Engine 10 (1342 Florida Ave NE)
Engine 30 (50 49th St NE)
Engine 33 (101 Atlantic St SE)

The news is welcome to many Washingtonians who spent hours stuck in testing lines that wrapped around the block in some locations.

The District for the past two weeks had opened up two firehouses for testing five days a week.

Officials say more than 2,300 Washingtonians have been tested so far.

The firehouse testing sites are in addition to the many free testing sites across D.C., including the walk-up testing site at F Street, NW between 4th and 5th Streets.

There are drive-thru and walk-up testing sites at 2241 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue SE in Ward 8 and at the UDC-CC Bertie Backus campus in Ward 5.

The District reported 58 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total to 9,767 confirmed cases and 515 deaths.

D.C. health officials reported 10 consecutive days of declining community spread of coronavirus Saturday, keeping the District on track for a Phase 2 reopening on Friday, June 19th.

June 19th also happens to be Juneteenth, or the holiday African Americans celebrate as their independence day.