Free COVID-19 Testing Event at Indian Baptist Church

In hopes of providing more people with testing for COVID-19, the Indian Baptist Church in Watonga has partnered with Marquis Labs to do just that.

This effort, put on in part by Marquis Labs, has had Marquis Labs contact various religious groups around the state to reach out to as many people in rural communities as possible.

Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Muskogee are all areas they have provided free drivethru testing in.

“We want to reach out to rural communities, and we want to reach out to the Native American community in the Watonga area to test more people,” public health officer for Marquis Labs Emmanuel Agyapong said.

This will be the first time Marquis Labs has done testing in Watonga as well as the first time the Indian Baptist Church has put on an event like this.

“The virus doesn't care if you're white, black, Native American, or Hispanic,” said moderator for the Indian Baptist Church Quinton Roman Nose.

Roman Nose believes that testing is valuable for the community once individuals are made aware of that value and that more testing needs to be available.

“The more that people know whether or not they came in contact with somebody [with COVID] the better off they are... The locations and facilities that offer testing are very few, especially in rural Watonga,” Roman Nose said. “The convenience of testing on a weekend is a plus and the biggest attraction to me is that it's free.”

The two-day event will take place in the Indian Health Services Clinic parking lot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 15, and Saturday, Feb. 20.

Results can be expected within 24 hours unless done on the weekend in which case results could take 48 hours to arrive, Agyapong said.

Appointments can be scheduled by visiting marquislabs.com and for more information, you can contact 405-445-6001 or 618-334-3508.