The city of Detroit is contracting with transportation coordinator IntelliRide to offer $2 rides for those without cars to the Michigan State Fairgrounds COVID-19 test site.

The drive-thru site at Eight Mile Road and Woodward Avenue requires a car. Testing there started last Friday, as a coordinated effort between Detroit, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, three health systems and others.

"One of the issues that has been raised with me by a lot of folks in this town is, 'I don't have a car,' " said Mayor Mike Duggan, who spoke during his daily coronavirus press briefing about the new $100,000 deal reached with IntelliRide Friday. "We can't have a standard of health care in this city that those who have cars can get tested and those who don't are just stuck."

Those who need a ride must request one when they call to make an appointment at the testing site through a call center operation provided by Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc., at (313) 230-0505. Patients must have symptoms of the illness and a doctor's order before getting tested.

Though testing is open to residents of Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties, patients must be Detroit residents to get the transportation to and from their home through IntelliRide, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Friday during his daily coronavirus news briefing. Drivers and riders will wear masks and cars will be sanitized, he said.

"If you don't have the $2, they'll take you anyway," Duggan said.

IntelliRide acts as a "broker," arranging rides with local drivers. It provides public transit for the elderly and those with disabilities in Nebraska and for Colorado's Medicaid program.

IntelliRide's parent company is Transdev, a global transportation services provider for governments and companies that operates buses, rail, paratransit, taxi and other modes of transit. The French company's North American operations are based in Lombard, Ill. Transdev also contracts with the Detroit Department of Transportation on paratransit, according to Detroit's website.

"I don't think there are obvious best solutions going forward, but city officials doing what they can to ensure sick people aren't having to take the bus is, at this stage, I think important and necessary," said Mason Herson-Hord, an organizer with transit activist organization Motor City Freedom Riders. "When people have reason to believe they are sick, we should not be requiring them to take public transit to go somewhere. There have been important steps taken by (the Detroit Department of Transportation) to make transmission on public transit less likely, but it's still a major risk point."

Testing at the fairgrounds is ramping up from 600 tests a day this week to 700 a day starting Saturday. Approximately 4,000 appointments have been scheduled so far, according to the mayor. Of the first 1,000 tests to come back, 43 percent are positive.

"This is double the testing rate the state is seeing since this started," Duggan said. "If you are in a group of 5 or 6 people, it is almost a mathematical certainty that one of the people in that group has COVID-19, and they may be very mild, they may not be showing symptoms ... It is time for people in this community to put on a mask or put on a scarf before you go out in public."

Detroit had 3,572 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Friday, up more than 700 from Thursday, and 116 deaths, up from 97, according to the city health department's figures.