San Diego to offer coronavirus tests at US-Mexico border

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego County plans to set up its first testing site for the coronavirus at one of the world’s busiest pedestrian international border crossings, officials said Wednesday.

County supervisor Greg Cox said that the county will begin tests in about two weeks at the San Ysidro port of entry’s PedWest crossing, which is exclusively pedestrian and connects Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego. An estimated 20,000 pedestrians enter the United States at the crossing daily, though that number has dropped with the pandemic and the shuttering of businesses.

Essential workers coming into the United States from Mexico and returning U.S. citizens will be offered the tests at the appointment-free, walk-up site, Cox said. County officials expect to do about 200 tests daily.

To limit the spread of the coronavirus, the United States has reached agreements with both Canada and Mexico to limit all nonessential travel across borders.

The border testing site will join more than two dozen others across San Diego County. The nearest testing site to the border crossing now is about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away.