CANFIELD — The owner of a company providing COVID-19 drive-thru testing today at the Canfield Fairgrounds has started to test patients at area nursing homes.

Mike Marantis of CornerStone Medical Services said he is collaborating with area nursing homes to provide tests for nursing homes in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

He said the testing already has begun, but was not specific about the locations.

He said the Shepherd of the Valley and Windsor House long-term care providers collaborated to “put this together for all of the nursing homes.”

“They saw the need and fortunately I am able to fill that need,” Marantis said. He doesn’t know how long it will take to test the facilities.

“We’re hoping to continue to supply the demand in the nursing homes because it is overlooked,” he said.

Danielle Procopio, Shepherd of the Valley spokesperson, said CornerStone is testing all residents and employees of its Boardman facility as a preventive measure because there was a confirmed case of the virus there.

Testing is being done at the Boardman facility “to seek out any positive cases in order to isolate those residents and quarantine those employees,” Procopio said. Other Shepherd of the Valley facilities will be tested “if needed” in the future, she said.

CornerStone can provide testing for about 500 patients per day, Marantis said. CornerStone is a distributor for TEN Healthcare, a lab based out of St. Louis. The tests are 99.999 percent accurate, he said.

CornerStone can continue at this pace for about six weeks, Marantis said. “I’m hoping to get more supplies, and they should be coming in, so that should extend it a little longer,” he said.

CornerStone has tested more than 2,000 people so far at locations such as Campbell and Austintown. The percentage of people testing positive continues to be 20 to 25 percent.

Another drive-up clinic is starting today at the Canfield Fairgrounds. Preregistration is required.

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms or those with direct exposure to the virus can be tested at the clinic. Pre-registration is required at www.quickmed-uc.com or by calling 724-734-5235 or 330-759-0085. Registration opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday and will close at 12 p.m. Friday.

Pre-registered patients will need to enter through Gate 8 off state Route 46 and will be directed through the Government Building (Building 31), where testing will take place.

Patients will be instructed to remain in their vehicles and then exit through Gate 5. The Mahoning County Sheriff’s office will assist with traffic flow.

Marantis said getting tested is important.

“We’re helping a lot of people that are sick and diagnosing it earlier so we can start earlier intervention,” he said.

QUICKMed Urgent Care of Cortland and Youngstown is one of CornerStone’s testing companies. Parkman Medical in Warren also will be doing some testing, Marantis said.

Ryan Tekac, Mahoning County health commissioner, has indicated that he checked out the testing by speaking with Lena Esmail, a family nurse practitioner and CEO of QUICKmed Urgent Care, which was carrying out the testing in Campbell at the time.

“They have to be showing signs and symptoms before they can be tested,” Tekac said adding that he checked to see what the turnaround time was for the laborary results and learned it was an acceptable 24 to 48 hours.

erunyan@tribtoday.com