Thousands schedule drive-through COVID tests after using Tarrant County screening tool
More than 4,700 people in Tarrant County have used the new self-screening COVID-19 website since its launch a little more than two weeks ago.
The website, which began taking free coronavirus assessments on April 26, asks a series of questions to determine if someone meets the criteria for a COVID-19 test. If they do, an appointment time is scheduled, though those times still remain limited.
By Tuesday afternoon, 4,743 people had been screened and 2,002 made appointments. Another 1,010 qualified for an appointment but didn’t schedule one (the county said about 200 of those were likely from fake accounts or people just messing around). More than 1,760 people did not qualify for an appointment.
The website does not reflect how many positive tests were returned.
The county has recorded 3,810 cases since the beginning of March. Of those, about 477 are inmates at the FMC Fort Worth federal prison (where there are nearly 650 recorded cases — though not all have been reported to the county, officials said this week).
The total also includes 109 deaths and 809 people who have reported recoveries (not all recoveries are tracked by the county health department).
Vinny Taneja, the county’s public health director, said people who have used the screening tool and were approved for a test say they want more options for testing times.
“We’re going to look at that, but may not be possible,” he said. “It’s a drive through operation. You want to make sure everybody comes in in a sequential way and are not have to wait around wearing (personal protection equipment) and not having an appointment.”
Residents who take the test have to enter their ZIP code and answer a string of questions. The tool then asks if residents have had a temperature of more than 100.4 in the past three or four days. Screeners are then asked to check symptoms and if they’ve had any known exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
