Then, we collect the sample and send it off to the lab. “You walk up to the kiosk and cough three times before you get to the window. “You register, whether it’s online or whether it’s here with us, and it only takes a couple minutes,” Renovato said. Test site workers Bianca Sanchez and Hidie Renovato took a moment from their work to explain the testing process. Martin Hall, is open to the general public.Ĭurative, founded in January 2020 to combat sepsis, pivoted to COVID-19 testing in March, and aims to “end the COVID-19 pandemic by providing simple-to-use and painless testing at scale to produce reliable data,” according to the company’s website. The testing center, located in the parking lot next to St. Late last week, the city requested additional federal testing resources from the state, City Manager Erik Walsh said in the statement.As cases of coronavirus spike in Texas, Our Lady of the Lake University has collaborated with Curative to set up a COVID-19 testing site on the university’s San Antonio campus. “I think we can be a very effective tool at slowing the spread.” “We’re another tool in their toolbox,” Webber said. Shortly after, a Community Labs spokeswoman said Metro Health officials had reached out to Webber to discuss expanding testing.
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“I join in that frustration because we’re better able to support the issue - we can do 40,000 tests a day now,” Webber told the San Antonio Report.įollowing several calls from the San Antonio Report to city officials Monday inquiring whether the city plans to utilize Community Labs again, Metro Health Director Claude Jacob said Monday that “leadership is still assessing the best options regarding testing capacity in the city” and will update the public “as additional information becomes available.” The city also has authorized additional testing sites to be established over the coming days, Metro Health stated.Ĭommunity Labs and the city have partnered in the past to offer community testing, but the nonprofit has no established city testing sites at the moment, Webber said. While the city has stated there is enough testing capacity in the community, “the City has requested expanded capacity at the state’s testing sites,” Metro Health said in its statement. The omicron wave has also brought an increased demand for testing, with residents complaining about long lines on various social media sites, including Reddit and Next Door.
Since the start of the pandemic, San Antonio has endured 4,977 COVID-19-related deaths, according to the latest data. This spike in case numbers marks the pandemic’s fourth major wave through San Antonio and its most drastic increase since the delta wave in late summer and fall. “Though we are watching the data closely,” Espinoza said. Get vaccinated, wear a mask and stay home if you are sick.”īecause the majority of the San Antonio population is vaccinated - Metro Health estimates that, as of mid-December, 80.6% of the county’s total population has received at least one dose of the vaccine while 66.3% have received two - and because the omicron variant appears to be causing milder cases, officials are hopeful the region will not experience as drastic an increase in hospitalizations this time around. Vaccines remain the best defense against any variant of COVID-19. “While the case numbers are surging, the data indicate that vaccines are preventing severe illness. “Our community is undergoing a surge of COVID-19 cases due to the fast-spreading omicron variant, and we all need to continue to take precautions to protect ourselves and our loved ones,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. While case numbers started climbing last week, according to state data, there is typically a two-week lag before hospitalizations start to rise from a new wave, said Rita Espinoza, Metro Health’s chief of epidemiology.Īs the highly transmissible omicron variant spreads through the area, residents are strongly encouraged to wear a well-fitting mask, practice social distancing, get vaccinated and obtain their booster shots when eligible, Metro Health said in its statement. Hospitalizations have increased from 352 last Thursday to 506 Monday. Local health officials told the San Antonio Report last week and also stated over the weekend they have been seeing a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Bexar County over the last few weeks.
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