Federal support for Dallas, other COVID testing sites will continue, Abbott announces
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services granted a two-week extension Friday for five federally supported coronavirus test sites across Texas.
Seven sites in Texas were set to lose federal funding June 30, Talking Points Memo had first reported Tuesday. A bipartisan group of state and federal lawmakers had pushed back on the news, urging the Trump Administration to reconsider as Texas sees record cases and hospitalizations of patients with the novel coronavirus.
According to a statement from Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett P. Giroir, the agency will work with officials to transition the sites to be fully state-run.
Gov. Greg Abbott applauded the federal government for granting his request and said renewed support would be directed toward sites in Dallas and Houston.
“I thank our federal partners for extending these operations in Texas, and for their flexibility in allocating their resources to the communities of Dallas and Houston that are experiencing a high number of COVID-19 cases right now,” Abbott said in a statement Friday. “By continuing to increase testing and remaining vigilant against outbreaks of COVID-19, we will mitigate the spread of this virus and keep our communities safe.”
Two sites are located in Dallas, with one at the American Airlines Center and the other at the Ellis Davis Field House.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Friday that the site at the Ellis Davis Field House will increase from 500 tests a day to 1,000 and will be run by Parkland Hospital with testing done in a federal lab.
Meanwhile, a site at the University of Dallas will replace the American Airlines Center on July 1. It will continue to conduct 500 tests a day and be run by Dallas County Health and Human Services with testing done by a private lab, Jenkins wrote.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted Friday that he is “heartened and relieved by this news.”
“Federal testing support has been critical to our response to this pandemic,” Johnson tweeted.
To combat record-breaking new cases and hospitalizations, Abbott issued a new executive order Friday ordering bars to close by noon and reducing restaurants’ capacity to 50% starting Monday.
