Coronavirus: Texas Expands Testing In Under-Served Communities
AUSTIN, TX — Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced the launch of expanded testing for the coronavirus in under-served and minority communities experiencing disproporationate levels of the respiratory illness.
To that end, the Texas Division of Emergency Management is coordinating with local officials, public health experts and emergency management offices in cities across the state to identify and rapidly expand COVID-19 testing in certain areas, the governor said in an advisory. This mission is part of Texas Division Emergency Management's ongoing partnership with the Texas Military Department, the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force and the Texas Department of State Health Services to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and increase testing where needed, the governor added.
The governor noted Texas Division of Emergency Management already is working with local officials in the cities of Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, El Paso, Abilene, the Rio Grande Valley, the Coastal Bend, Laredo, and Midland-Odessa to identify and establish walk-up and drive-thru testing sites that will meet the needs of each community, and is in the process of working with other cities to bring more sites online in the coming days. The agency also is working with local leaders to expand walk-up and drive-thru testing in urban areas where large-scale protests against police brutality have taken place, according to the governor's office.
"As the State of Texas continues to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we are committed to ensuring every Texan has access to COVID-19 testing no matter where they live," Abbott said in a prepared statement. "We must address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underserved and minority communities and ensure that anyone who needs a test can have one. As many Texans continue to gather for protests, the state is also taking steps to address potential surges in COVID-19 cases. We are ensuring that Texans can continue to safely exercise their First Amendment Rights while putting protocols in place to identify and mitigate any spread of COVID-19."
As these sites continue to come online across the state, residents are able to visit covidtest.tdem.texas.gov to find the test collection location nearest them.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management currently has 1,535 National Guardsmen supporting the state's mission to expand testing across the Lone Star State, the governor added. To date, these teams have conducted 116,394 specimen collections, and have fielded over 195,000 phone calls for test collection appointments with an average wait time of 55 seconds, he added.
The expanded testing sites comes at a time when Texas is fast becoming a national focus on illness trends given its status as the first state to announce economic reopening. Abbott first launched reignition of state commerce on May 1, when he ordered that operators of restaurants, malls and movie theaters could open their doors again — despite health officials continuing advice related to social distancing — at limited occupancy.
In the intervening weeks, Abbott has launched subsequent phases of business reopening — from barbershop and bowling alleys to pubs and tanning salons. Early on, Abbott declared worship services and construction activity to be "essential services" immune from many of the safeguards required in other areas. Abbott also waived the mandated use of facial face coverings, warning local issues not to issue fines to violators given his superseding executive order.
Since then, Texas has seen significant spikes in coronavirus, as reported by Newsweek. Between March 1 and June 4, the state recorded 71,330 cases of the new coronavirus, according to the report. Texas recorded spikes in new coronavirus cases in counties north of Houston, such as Grimes County that saw an increase from 14.5 reported cases two weeks ago, to a high of 58.4, while Walker County cases jumped from 41.7 to 186.1 cases, Newsweek reported.
The number of coronavirus cases passed the 71,000 mark on Friday, June 5, and currently stands at 74,978. To date, an estimated 1,830 people have died of the respiratory illness in Texas, according to a statistical dashboard maintained by Texas Department of State Health Services officials.
This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch
