May 20, 2020 ABC News47
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has signed an executive order allowing for pharmacies to begin onsite COVID-19 testing. However, some pharmacy owners say a lot needs to be figured out before local pharmacies are ready to do that.
“We would like to do it if the options work out, but right now there’s so many questions,” said Clayton’s Pharmacy owner Lisa Moorhead.
Questions that some local pharmacists say can’t be answered in a short period of time. Now independent pharmacies are trying to figure out how and where to get reliable testing kits. “It’s a matter of really finding the right tests that are out there, and hopefully there will be some antibody tests that will be coming along that we’ll be able to do that will give people a little bit more of an answer to whether they’ve been exposed or if they have the antibodies,” said Pemberton Pharmacy owner Craig Schury.
On May 19th, Governor Hogan signed the executive order allowing testing. Pharmacies 47ABC spoke with say little guidance has been given other than the order that they’ve been given the green light. “The biggest concerns are how do we bill for it, and right now even though Hogan gave us the authority to do it out of prescription, there’s still laws in effect that you have to get a waiver through the state to be able to do it,” said Moorhead.