Free community testing for COVID-19 continues.

The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:

• Saturday, Aug. 28, 4 to 7 p.m., Mosby’s Summer Night Lights, 1601 Littlepage St.

• Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1 to 2 p.m., Southwood Resource Center, 1742 Clarkson Road, Apt. A.

• Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1 to 3 p.m., Eastern Henrico Recreation Center Pavilion, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave.

Appointments are not necessary, but can be made by calling the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by registering online at https://bit.ly/RHHDCOVID.

Testing will be offered while test supplies last.

COVID-19 testing also is available at various drug stores, clinics and urgent care centers throughout the area for people with and without health insurance. Several offer tests with no out-of-pocket costs.

A list of area COVID-19 testing sites is online at https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/richmond-city/richmond-and-henrico-area-covid-19-testing-sites/

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/ coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites/.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free walk-up COVID-19 vaccines at the following locations:

• Friday, Aug. 27, 9 a.m. to noon – Henrico West Health Department Clinic, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson; 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – East End Branch, Richmond Public Library, 1200 N. 25th St., Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

• Saturday, Aug. 28, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Broad Rock Farmers Market, Back to School event, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd.; 4 to 7 p.m. – Mosby Summer Night Lights event, 1400 Spotsylvania St., Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson

Children ages 12 to 17 may only receive the Pfizer vaccine.

Appointments are not required, but individuals can schedule an appointment online at vax.rchd.com or by calling (804) 205-3501.

VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine.

U.S. regulators gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, potentially boosting public confidence in the shots and instantly opening the way for more local governments, school systems, universities and companies to make vaccinations mandatory.

The Pentagon promptly announced it will press ahead with plans to force members of the military to get vaccinated amid the battle against the super contagious delta variant.

More than 200 million Pfizer doses have been administered in the United States under emergency provisions — and hundreds of millions more worldwide — since December. In going a step further and granting full approval, the Food and Drug Administration cited months of evidence that serious side effects are extremely rare.

In Richmond, where city employees are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, roughly 75 percent are either partially or fully vaccinated, while another 10 percent have asked for religious or medical exemptions as of Tuesday, officials said. 3,060 of Richmond city employees are either partially or fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Of the 3,000 or so employees who have responded so far, about 300 requested exemptions.

Those who haven’t responded have until Sept. 1 to turn in paperwork showing their vaccination status or requesting an exemption, otherwise they will be placed on leave without pay, city officials said.

On Wednesday, state health officials reported the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases in months – 3,454. With that number, Virginia has reached a total of 747,640 cases during the course of the pandemic, with 33,096 hospitalizations and 11,715 deaths.

Virginia’s seven-day positivity rate continues to rise at 9.8percent. Last week, it was 8.6 percent.

According to state health department data, 56 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, while 63.3 percent of the population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

State data also show that African-Americans comprised 22.8 percent of cases statewide and 25 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 15.3 percent of cases and 6.4 percent of deaths.