A new mobile COVID-19 testing site is set to open in North Texas this week, in order to help meet the growing demand for testing amid the surge of positive cases.
Nomi Health, a Florida-based health care organization, will open a site at Ellis-Davis Field House in southern Dallas at 12 p.m. on Wednesday.
Testing coordinators said it will be a soft launch, with hours running from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday and then transitioning to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week after that.
Nomi has already been operating a testing site at Toyota Stadium in Frisco since September. Those hours are 6 a.m. through 3 p.m. seven days a week.
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Both sites are offering COVID-19 rapid and PCR tests. Rapid tests will text or email results within an hour and PCR test results are available in 24 hours.
The increased demand for testing comes as case numbers are rising in North Texas and beyond, and as many people are coming off of recent travel or time spent with family during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
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“Through the next weeks or months, we are going to want to make sure that we are doing what we can to protect our family members and loved ones in our community from this virus that is ravaging through the country,” said Dr. Harold Delasalas, National Medical Director of Nomi Health.
Delasalas stressed that testing is an important part of personal responsibility as it pertains to slowing the spread of COVID-19.
People wanting to get tested at either of the Frisco or the new Dallas drive-thru testing sites can preregister here but official said the best way to get through is to get in line when you can and pack your patience. The preregistration helps the process to move faster by giving testing coordinators your information ahead of time instead of filling it out on site.
At Neighborhood Medical Center in North Dallas, the COVID-19 Test Site Manager says they have been testing between 800 and 900 people a day during the past few days.
"We have seen a lot and the majority of it has been exposure,” said Jonathan Cormack-Boyesuk, COVID-19 Test Site Manager, Neighborhood Medical Center.
He said between 27% and 30% at that location have been coming back positive.
While their rapid tests have been coming back quickly, the wait time on a PCR test can be three to five days.
Home tests remain a challenge. But the Biden administration has said they will make 500 million home tests available for households that request them, beginning this month.
“We are thinking it is going to peak in two weeks, so the next month, I would say through January, we are going to see long lines for testing. We are going to see more people at risk for being exposed,” said Dr. John Flores, of the North Texas Medical Society Coalition.
