Governor Greg Abbott announced Friday that he has requested resources from Texas state agencies to provide additional COVID-19 testing stations with some of those to be opened in Cameron and Hidalgo counties. The Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Division of Emergency Management will provide the resources.

Abbott said Texas has requested support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for testing sites in the following counties based on current COVID-19 metrics, including positivity rate and hospitalizations: Bexar, Cameron, Dallas, Harris, Hidalgo and Tarrant. This additional testing capability will aid in identifying people with COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, and help prevent and reduce further transmission.

Several cities in the Rio Grande Valley are already offering free COVID-19 mobile testing because of the spread of what is suspected to be the Omicron virus.

“Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus,” said Abbott said in a press release. “While the Biden administration has cut supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments and testing kits when they are needed most, the State of Texas is urging the federal government to step up in this fight and provide the resources necessary to help protect Texans. Testing sites, additional medical staff, and continued shipments of therapeutics from the federal government will help us continue to save lives and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”

Abbott said the DSHS also has requested additional allocations of sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic that is proven to be effective in fighting the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and reducing hospitalizations. The agency also requested that the federal government continue to supply Texas with Regeneron and bamlanivimab, monoclonal antibody treatments for other strains of COVID-19 that have also proven to help reduce hospitalizations across the state.

In addition, DSHS has also requested three teams of medical personnel to provide additional support to hospitals in urban areas of the state that do not have DSHS-contracted staff.


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