HOUSTON – A free coronavirus testing site opened to anyone released data on who is and isn’t getting tested in Houston.
The drive-thru testing facility at United Memorial Medical Center conducted 400 coronavirus tests Thursday, according to the office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who helped facility open this weekend.
Here is the breakdown of who has been tested:
- 4% of those tested were under 8 years old
- 5% of those tested were between 10 to 18 years old
- 18% of those tested were between 19 to 27 years old
- 48% of those tested were between 28 to 45 years old
That means 72% of those tested were under 50 years old, per the data.
“It is important that as we continue this, (and) that you bring your elders out,” said Jackson Lee. “It is very important for senior citizens to be tested...crucial.”
Lee said she would not be releasing the number of people that tested positive during the first day of testing, citing privacy. However, she said the results would be shared with the Harris County Health Department and the Houston Health Department.
Health officials have cautioned that an increase in coronavirus testing will lead to an increase in new cases.
The line of cars, hours long and for the second day in a row, tells the story.
Houstonians want to get test for Coronavirus. On the second day of drive-thru testing at United Memorial Medical Center at 510 W. Tidwell Road in Houston, people waited for hours to be examined.
in Houston, open to anyone, released information about who is and isn’t getting tested for the virus behind the pandemic.
Once the driver gets to the front of line, they will be directed into the first tent, where they’ll be asked about symptoms and travel history. If they qualify, they will be directed to a second test for the actual test.
“It’s actually very straight forward; it’s a very thin q-tip that we insert in your nose in each one of the sides of the nose,” said Dr. Joesph Varon from United Memorial Medical Center. “It takes 30 seconds at most, the actual testing them. We remove the vial and sent it to our lab.”
“We are going to have a lot more cases because we are testing more people,” said Varon.
There will be no testing tomorrow or Sunday, but it will pick up again on Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The site will stay open during the same schedule up to and including Friday.