A new city order in Louisville, Kentucky, requires COVID-19 testing sites not affiliated with a health facility or already approved by its public health department to get a written approval before opening up, the Courier-Journal reports. This, it notes, comes after pop-up testing sites in the city were suspected to be scams.
Metro Council President David James told WDRB last week that scammers were setting up tents in church and other parking lots to collect people's personal and genetic information. "It's a scam," James says. "They would test somebody and use the same gloves they used on the person before. They get your $240 dollars plus they can turn in fake Medicaid claims."
Both James and Tara Bassett, a local advocate, told the station that they suspect the individuals behind the scam are the same as those who were running fake genetic testing operations in the area last year.
According to the Courier-Journal, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Kentucky attorney general are looking into several mobile coronavirus test sites in Louisville.
Officials hope the new city order will prevent suspicious pop-up testing sites from opening, it adds. If new testing sites are to open, "they're going to be required to work with the health department, just so we can make sure it's legitimate and safe, and they're not spreading COVID instead of just testing for it," Sarah Moyer, the city's public health director, tells the Courier-Journal.