An outbreak of respiratory disease caused by COVID-19 has caught the world off guard. As death tolls rise and governments implement stringent measures to control its spread, members of the public show desire to help. Testing as a means to manage and contain the disease has been recognised worldwide. This has spurred numerous initiatives including set-up of drive-through COVID-19 testing clinics. Currently, drive-through testing is performed by healthcare workers. Using these drive-through clinics as inspiration, we propose integrating simulation to train volunteers from the public to perform safe testing of symptomatic patients for COVID-19 in the community. The initial uptake of simulation in contemporary healthcare education was first employed to prepare for crisis events. As we combat the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare educators have a duty to expand the use of simulation beyond its dominant use in training and assessment to its full potential, including making it readily accessible and relevant to the public. We suggest Kneebone et al ’s model of ‘distributed simulation’ as an easily accessible, widely available method to deliver a low-cost, ‘immersive’ simulated experience.1 This can be achieved by taking simulation away from the physical confines of a simulation facility and into the community. We envisage that this could be successful as learners and educators will be working towards a common goal with personal meaning. …