HOUSTON – Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo toured the Harris County Health nurse call center in southwest Houston Saturday.
At the call center, several nurses, students, and volunteers provided health screening for individuals looking to be tested for coronavirus.
"These people are the tip of the spear when it comes to dealing with this virus," Hidalgo said. "We have limited resources (and) limited tests, so it shouldn't be about who shows up first. It should be about who needs it most."
Hidalgo thanked those working behind the scenes facilitating the health screenings.
"I wanted folks just to see the work being done by them," Hidalgo said.
Individuals seeking to be tested must fill out the Harris County coronavirus screening tool.
"If you meet the criteria, you will be given a unique identifier number, which will pair you with one of these folks," Hidalgo said.
If an individual meets the additional criteria, Harris County will direct them to a county testing site.
"Testing supplies have been very limited," Hidalgo said. "We finally received some materials from the federal government, so we've already done over 2500 tests since Monday."
An additional shipment from FEMA is expected to arrive in the next few days, Hidalgo said.
However, if the shipment does not arrive, Hidalgo said the county would have to close the call center.
"If we receive it, we will be continuing to test. We are right now at 100% capacity meaning 500 tests a day in the county," she said.
For more information from the Harris County Public Health: www.readyharris.org