Mark Wood was feeling fine on Wednesday afternoon when he came to get tested for COVID-19 at the Avondale Youth and Family Development Center on Dodson Avenue.
He drove over from his home in Brainerd after he saw a Facebook Live video of a clinician sticking a nasal swab up Chattanooga Councilman Anthony Byrd’s nose to test for the coronavirus.
Byrd and Wood were among the 380 people who received free COVID-19 testing either by drive-thru from their vehicles or walking up to the Avondale center parking lot – where Cempa Community Care, a nonprofit primary care provider focused on infectious disease prevention and treatment, hosted its second “pop-up” testing event in a week.
Wood, who works for the city and does cleanup at the center, said Byrd’s video convinced him to get tested. He wanted to make sure he isn’t unknowingly carrying the virus, since evidence is emerging that more people with COVID-19 might not show symptoms.
While he doesn’t know anyone who’s been diagnosed, he said he also doesn’t know many people who have been tested.