Planned Parenthood opens COVID testing site in Mountain View
SAN JOSE – Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian announced today the official launch of a permanent COVID-19 testing location in Mountain View. The new testing site is made possible through a partnership between the County and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM).
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is now providing no-cost testing at its drive-thru testing site Monday through Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m and Thursday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Shoreline Athletic Fields parking lot located at 2450 Garcia Avenue. Insurance is not required to be tested; however, community members with insurance should bring their insurance information. The State of California has mandated that all health insurance plans cover 100% of the COVID-19 test with no copays or deductibles paid by the individual.
“We’re finally getting some traction on testing,” said Simitian. “It’s not yet as much as I’d like to see, and it’s certainly not as fast as I’d like to see, but it’s progress.”
“As a vital part of safety net services in Santa Clara County, we are committed to ensuring that everyone in our community has access to testing and support during this health crisis. When called in to help, we welcomed the opportunity to work with Santa Clara County and Mountain View public officials to meet the urgent need for COVID-19 testing here,” said PPMM’s CEO Stacy Cross. “We want this innovative collaboration to support the community’s transition to re-opening safely and confidently.”
In January of 2020 when Planned Parenthood announced its plans to reopen at its new location at 2500 California Street in Mountain View, Simitian noted the potential for Planned Parenthood and the County to team up in a powerful way. “Expanding the scope of our partnership made perfect sense. We need to significantly increase testing in the County, and Planned Parenthood has the capable staff and capacity to help get it done,” said Simitian.
“We are truly pleased to be partnering with the County and other organizations to provide this much-needed resource for our area,” said City of Mountain View Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga. “Increased testing, retesting, and tracking and tracing are the best ways right now for us to move forward from this pandemic and reopen more of our local economy.”
In June of 2019, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a partnership proposed by Simitian with PPMM. Under the partnership, the County leases a section of Planned Parenthood’s new facility to provide specialty services including pediatric dental and prenatal dental services that will open later this year.
Planned Parenthood cares for an estimated 8,095 patients a year at their Mountain View clinic, more than 80% of whom are Santa Clara County residents. There are 2,131 members of the County-owned and operated Valley Health Plan assigned to primary care providers at the Planned Parenthood clinic.
For more information about Planned Parenthood’s testing site, visit testmv.plan-your-care.org
###