With less than a week’s notice (last Tuesday), Gov. Tim Walz asked the Minnesota National Guard to partner with the Minnesota Dept. of Health to handle testing over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

After the governor made the call, they organized six teams of 10 medics to handle testing, with one nurse to be on the team, along with National Guard personnel to help direct people around the testing sites.

Related Story: Free COVID-19 testing offered at six sites across the state this weekend

“We started out slow but after we received more computers we found it took about 15 minutes to go from the first table at the entrance until you get done with testing,” Waterman explained.

The test sites offer testing inside and drive-up testing for those who are more susceptible to COVID-19 or are unable to stand in line.

Because a lot of people who have contracted COVID-19 can be asymptomatic (without symptoms), testing everyone helps inform those who have the virus about their status so they can self-quarantine.