EDINBURG — A regional COVID-19 testing site held a soft opening Tuesday ahead of its 21-day residency at the Edinburg Municipal Park where state, federal and local officials partnered up to offer 1,000 COVID tests per day.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency established a regional testing site that will administer 1,000 PCR tests per day for approximately 21 days at a time when testing has been in short supply nationwide.
FEMA partnered with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, Hidalgo County and the city of Edinburg for the testing site, which will officially open Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The free tests will be administered via drive-thru but individuals must register for an appointment ahead of time.
Upon arrival, individuals will be directed to one of four lanes where they will be checked for validation that they signed up online, according to Edinburg Fire Chief Shawn Snyder.
At the end of the site, individuals will take their own nasal swab which will be placed in a packet and sent off for testing.
The samples to be tested will be sent on a daily basis and the results are expected to take between two and four days.
The opening of the testing site comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations due to the disease continue to rise.
“Today we have 392 people in the hospitals in Hidalgo County,” said Eddie Olivarez, the chief administrator for the county’s health and human services department. “That is a high number of hospitalizations.”
“Forty-plus of those are pediatric so the omicron is affecting our community,” Olivarez continued. “By far, the majority of cases are omicron. We have many, many cases — upwards of 30 cases of omicron — and we still have delta in the area.”
Olivarez acknowledged the limited supply of testing available due to disruptions in the supply chain.
Because of that, he recommended that people be mindful when deciding to get tested or not.
“We have people who — parents, mother and father — …tested positive and they want to test all their children, we say ‘just assume that your children have it,” Olivarez said, adding that in that scenario, the best thing to do would be to stay home and follow safety protocols such as wearing a mask, handwashing and sanitizing.
“We leave it up to the individual to be respectful because there are people who get a little concerned and they get tested every day, so you have a person who might actually use 10, 12, 13 tests,” Olivarez said. “They need to be able to understand that there’s other people who need the testing too.”
He continued, “I’m not saying don’t get tested but what I’m saying is just be respectful for the shortage of testing that there is right now.”
Still, Olivarez said he was hopeful that more tests would be sent and be made available to the community.
In addition to the FEMA regional site, the city of San Juan is holding a COVID-19 testing clinic on Wednesday and Friday at Mayfield Park, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., no appointment necessary. The tests there will also be free.
Additionally, the federal government on Tuesday began taking orders for at-home COVID tests.
U.S. residents can place their orders with the U.S. Postal Service which will ship in late January.
To make an appointment at the Edinburg FEMA testing site, individuals can register at DoINeedACOVID19Test.com or call (800) 635-8611.
