SAN ANTONIO — The demand for COVID-19 testing is still on the rise as the community risk level in Bexar County remains at the “severe.”
In the last week, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County have partnered with San Antonio-based Community Labs to expand and increase access to testing.
“What we're finding is as we've opened up these different access sites, there's some pent up demand for testing,” said Community Labs President, Sal Webber.
After opening up the new testing sites, Webber said they’re seeing an average of 5,000 people a day showing up to get a test, a higher average that what they saw last around the same time.
Webber said the positivity rate is also setting new record highs.
“The positivity rates are orders of magnitude greater than anything we've seen before,” said Webber. “When it comes to the public side, we have some locations that were upwards of 50 percent, now it doesn't mean 50 percent of the city, but just for the people who came and tested, we had a 50 percent positivity rate.”
Webber attributes the increased demand for testing to the rapid spreading Omicron variant.
“It's just so much more contagious, and I think so many more people have been inadvertently exposed,” said Webber.
Webber said the process to get tested takes around 10 to 15 minutes. The PCR nasal swab test is administered at each site.
“We've seen it detect people who are pre-symptomatic 72 hours before they come down with symptoms,” said Webber.
Test results are taking longer than normal to process due to a delay in delivery of “critical chemicals used in the laboratory process,” causing a longer wait time of 48 to 72 hours to get the results back to people how tested.
Webber said they have since received the supplies needed and are working through the weekend to catch up from the back long. He said they have also brought in additional staff to process the back log of tests.
“We understand our customers’ frustration and want to assure everyone we are working around the clock in the lab to clear our backlog and communicate results to our customers,” said Webber. “We’re working hard to get back to meeting that 24-hour goal and thank everyone for their patience.”
Visit CommunityLabs.org for more information on how to get your results.
Walk-ups are welcome at each testing location. Pre-registration is encouraged at CLTEST.org, but not required.
Continuing Monday, Jan. 17, Community Labs will provide free, COVID-19 testing from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at these locations:
* Alamo Colleges District Support Operations Building, 2222 N. Alamo St. 78215
* Palo Alto College Building 20, 1400 W. Villaret Blvd. 78224, Building 20 – Performing Arts Center
* St. Philip’s College, 1801 Martin Luther King Dr. San Antonio, TX 78203
* Yates Community Center, 568 Rasa Drive, 78227
* Melendrez Community Center, 5919 W. Commerce St., 78237
* Copernicus Community Center, 5003 Lord Rd., 78220
* Wonderland Mall of the Americas, 4522 Fredericksburg Rd., 78201 (Lower level beneath Burlington.)
* Converse Old City Hall, 407 South Seguin. 78109 (opening Monday morning at 8 a.m.)