Scott County Health Department, Walgreens and greater than AIDS team up to combat HIV awareness in the Quad Cities.
Starting Tuesday, June 27 through Thursday, June 29 from three to seven p.m., anyone can get an HIV test done at the Walgreens located at 1805 Brady Street in Davenport. That's on the corner of Locust and Brady.
Tests usually run anywhere from $60 to $80 dollars, depending on the testing site but the partnership will offer them for free for three days.
The CDC recommends anyone over the age of 16 get tested at least once in their lifetime. People who have more than one sexual partner or a partner with HIV, and people who inject illegal drugs/share needles are considered high risk and should get tested more often.
Roma Taylor is a Clinical Services Director at the Scott County Health Department and says by getting tested you keep yourself and your community healthy by decreasing the risk of transmission.
"It’s important for people to know their status, especially those at risk. If individuals continue to be at high risk they want to get tested periodically but just to get tested and know ‘I’m okay’ is important," added Taylor.
With early diagnosis and treatment, someone with HIV can live a healthy life.
"There is a new drug on the market called Truvada and they use that for PrEP for individuals at high risk. They can take PrEP every day and it will prevent them from becoming infected," said Taylor.
Scott County Health Department officials conduct the tests by a finger stick and results are available in 20 minutes. Walgreens is also doing free hepatitis ‘C’ tests until Thursday.
Scott County Health Department have teamed up with Walgreens to provide free HIV testing for three years in a row now.