Starting next week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health will close drive-through testing at the Walmart in Cranberry Township.

In a news release Friday, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine announced the closure of the remaining nine Walmart drive-through and parking lot COVID-19 testing sites across the state, which includes the Cranberry Township location at 20245 Route 19. Other testing sites are available.

“When we established our testing strategy, we wanted testing to be accessible, available and adaptable,” said Levine in the release. “I’m pleased to say that we have met that challenge in 13 communities thanks to Quest Diagnostics and Walmart.”

Levine praised Quest for its services and continued collaboration with the department, but she acknowledged the Walmart locations were seeing declines in numbers. On average, less than 10 people per day were visiting the sites.

“We are committed to ensuring that testing is available to everyone close to home and will have testing options available in the counties where these sites were located,” Levine said.

Meanwhile, other commercial pharmacies have added drive-through testing capabilities throughout the county. The most recent to join these ranks was the CVS in Mars, which began its COVID-19 testing Wednesday.

“If symptomatic and asymptomatic Pennsylvanians in the impacted communities need testing after Sept. 25, they can visit entities such as Rite Aid, CVS, Patient First, Walgreens and others for testing,” Levine said.

According to Friday’s updated data from the Department of Health, Butler County has added 17 confirmed cases of the virus over a two-day period with eight on Thursday and nine on Friday.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 886 county residents have tested positive for the virus. The county’s death toll remained at 22.

Butler Health System’s inpatient numbers at Butler Memorial Hospital have decreased by three since its last update Wednesday.

On Friday, BHS reported five hospitalized patients who all have confirmed cases of the virus. Currently, none of those patients are being treated in the intensive care unit.

The following numbers on the coronavirus pandemic were compiled from regular news releases from the state Department of Health and the Butler Health System.Thursday and Friday's COVID-19 statistics are:<b>Butler County</b>Confirmed cases: 886Probable cases: 90Negative tests: 20,546Deaths: 22<b>Butler Memorial Hospital</b>Inpatients: 5Suspected: 0Confirmed: 5ICU: 0Total tests: 18,762Outdoor tests: 6,587Positive tests: 327<b>Clarion Hospital</b>Inpatients: 1Suspected: 0Confirmed: 1ICU: 1Total tests: 5,169Outdoor tests: 4,063Positive tests: 103<b>Pennsylvania</b>New cases: 1,693Total cases: 148,683New deaths: 31Total deaths: 7,934Recovered: 82 percent<b>Surrounding Counties</b>Allegheny: 11,113 confirmed cases; 163,132 negative; and 344 deathsArmstrong: 399 confirmed; 6,308 negative; and 16 deathsBeaver: 1,766 confirmed; 18,550 negative; and 112 deathsClarion: 99 confirmed; 2,987 negative; and 3 deathsLawrence: 429 confirmed; 7,238 negative; and 22 deathsMercer: 607 confirmed; 10,940 negative; and 13 deathsVenango: 63 confirmed; 4,393 negative; and 1 deathWestmoreland: 1,952 confirmed; 40,423 negative; and 50 deaths