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BELLEFONTE -- As positive cases of COVID-19 continue to turn up in Centre County, the county commissioners agreed to extend a contract with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare to operate the walk-in testing clinic at the former Comcast/Xfinity facility down the road from the Nittany Mall.
The current agreement with AMI was set to expire on Saturday, Feb. 27. The new agreement will extend the contract an additional month, through Saturday, March 27.
However, the number of tests per day will decrease from 300 to 200, according to county administrator Margaret Gray.
"That will bring the cost down to an average of approximately $66,000 per week," Gray explained. "It can actually drop lower than that if our numbers fall in terms of number of people being tested."
Chair Michael Pipe said that the county will use "rollover dollars" to pay for the testing.
"We still have some rollover dollars from the CARES Act (funding) that we received last year. But, of course, they are diminishing by the week as we pay for this testing site," Pipe said.
Pipe said that he's encouraged by the fact that the federal government is pushing through more assistance to state and local governments.
"It looks as though we will get another round of funding. The final bill is still up in the air, but it will be sizeable," Pipe said.
The initial free COVID-19 testing site was at the former Bon-Ton at the Nittany Mall. However, in January, it moved down the road to 1155 Benner Pike, Suite 120.
Hours of operation will remain the same -- 10 a.m. through 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. The county's contract with AMI Expeditionary Health Care began on Oct. 27, 2020.
The testing site has been funded through money set aside from the county's $14.7 million CARES Act block grant.
"I think it makes sense for us to keep it here, at least through the month of March, again, monitoring it as we go along," Pipe said.
According to Pipe, once vaccinations begin to jump, the county can "pull back" on the AMI testing site.
Fellow commissioners Mark Higgins and Steve Dershem agreed that the county should keep the testing site open and free of charge.
"I'm glad that (we) did negotiate the contract down from average maximum of 300 a day to 200 a day … I think we need to keep testing, but at the same time we have to be mindful that while we had 300 people or more arriving over the holidays for testing, we haven't come close to that in several weeks," Higgins said.
Dershem also agreed to extending the free testing site.
"I'm in favor of it. I know that the number of people they're testing is down, but the number of positives is up. I think it does present itself as a very useful tool for fighting this COVID outbreak," Dershem said.
The free testing is open to anyone. Those getting a test are asked to bring a photo ID or health insurance card to receive a test. The vote to extend the contract with AMI was unanimous.
In other business Tuesday, the commissioners approved:
-- A professional and administrative services agreement with the SEDA Council of Governments for administration of the COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP) Grant. Administration costs include a fee of $300 per reviewed and completed grant application, with the total amount not to exceed $50,580 effective through Aug. 31, 2021.
-- A service agreement with ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corporation to maintain the elevator equipment at the Centre County Correctional Facility, courthouse, courthouse annex and Willowbank Buildings. The contract for the period of Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2025.
-- A Contract with Susquehanna Accounting and Consulting Solutions to provide financial management and consulting services effective with the date of contract approval. Billing for services will be based on an hourly rate with an anticipated average monthly payment of $8,500 contingent upon hours utilized. Contract termination may be provided by either party with fifteen (15) days of notice.
-- Submission of ACT 148 report to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the period of July 1, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2020.
The Centre County commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 2. That meeting will be held via Zoom and televised live by C-NET.s