Mobile COVID-19 test site planned as Tarrant commissioner asks for more testing
A Texas National Guard pop-up coronavirus testing site will come to Tarrant County this week.
The site will briefly boost testing in the county at a time when the state moves forward with reopening the economy — a point of concern for two county commissioners who said more tests are needed.
The Tarrant Commissioners Court approved using a vacant county corrections annex building in Bedford as a temporary testing site on Friday and Saturday. National Guard troops will be on hand from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 837 Brown Trail and will have the capacity to test 100 people each day in a drive-through manner.
The mobile site will move around the four largest DFW counties, said County Administrator G.K. Maenius. When it returns to Tarrant County it will be relocated to a different “hot spot” for coronavirus cases, he said.
Tests through the mobile site are available to anyone. Appointments can be made by txcovidtest.org or by calling 512-883-2400.
Commission Roy Brooks voiced frustration about moving forward with Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to reopen the Texas economy without more abundant testing.
“There are a lot of people who don’t feel comfortable about that without having access to a test,” Brooks said.
The governor has promised to increase testing statewide.
In Tarrant County testing criteria originally focused on health care workers, first responders and those who were severely symptomatic. Now essential government workers and anyone with a doctor’s order or who has been in contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus can get tested regardless of symptoms, said Vinny Taneja, Public Health Director.
That’s not enough, Brooks argued. He told Taneja the county should expand tests to grocery store employees and other workers who are being told to return to work.
Commissioner Devan Allen agreed, saying many in the county could not afford to continue to stay home and more robust testing would help them feel comfortable about returning to work.
Taneja said discussions are ongoing about expanding the definition of who qualifies for a test through the county’s testing sites.
The county has screened about 4,700 people through the three sites, according to the county’s online database. Just under 2,000 filled out a survey and qualified for testing, and about 5% of those were positive cases. That gives Taneja confidence the testing criteria is “loose enough,” he said.
Between 10% and 15% of those tested, either through a private lab or a county lab, have the virus, he said.
Additional testing could be coming to Tarrant County, but Judge Glen Whitley said supplies remain low.
The commission also approved using about $20 million in the federal coronavirus relief money for testing. Whitley said the amount of testing done at the county’s three test sites has less do with funding and more to do with supply.
While the county has been able to purchase chemicals needed to processes the tests, Whitley said Tuesday the federal government told Abbott U.S., a leading manufacturer of the reagent, has been told to hold back providing supplies to local governments in favor of prisons and reservations, both of which have seen a spike in cases.
