Drive-thru testing
Harris County Public Health nurse Harriett Lewis works a drive-thru testing site Saturday.
Despite sky-high demand for COVID-19 tests, Harris County’s first governmentbacked testing site got off to a crawling start Saturday in Baytown.
The site opened at 1 p.m., reserved exclusively for prescreened first responders and medical workers, who officials said were given priority amid a national shortage of testing capacity and medical supplies.
Mac McClendon, who leads preparedness and response for Harris County Public Health, told news media earlier in the day that they had a capacity to test 250 people per day at the site and expected to use it.
County officials asked news organizations not to disclose the Baytown site’s location, fearing members of the general public would show up unprompted. They said they notified qualifying people using an email distribution list of health care employees and first responders.
“We’re expecting 250, probably a little more,” McClendon said of the anticipated crowd.
Instead, hardly anyone came.
Around 4 p.m., one sheriff ’s deputy driving from the sight said just eight people had been tested. There weren’t many more in the next few hours, before workers started packing their things at 7 p.m. Medical workers in long-awaited protective gear were reduced to waiting idly in white tents while prized nasal swabs went mostly unused.
Harris County Public Health said it couldn’t confirm a count, though it acknowledged the site wasn’t busy.
Officials didn’t answer questions about whether they should have opened the site to the public, or at least seniors, given the paltry attendance and the advance warning that the screening process would seemingly have provided.
At a similar site opened by Houston Health Department, officials said they tested 159 people Friday. Like the county site, that was limited to pre-screened first responders and health care workers. It expanded Saturday to include seniors over 65 with certain symptoms, and officials said they would allow people with chronic conditions as well on Sunday.
People who think they qualify can call 832-393-4220 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to start that process.
The county plans a similar expansion in coming days, though it couldn’t confirm Saturday night whether seniors would be allowed tests on Sunday. The county is opening a second site in Katy as well. The screening line is 832-9277575.
Private groups, like United Memorial Medical Center and Legacy Community Health, are offering tests for members of the general public with symptoms. Pre-screening is required for those sites as well, and more information is available on their websites.
Legacy, for one, said it had tested 500 people at its four sites at the close of business Thursday.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said on Twitter that the federal Department of Health and Human Services was also opening a new site Saturday in Cypress. But Texas, Harris County and Houston health officials said they either didn’t know about that site or weren’t involved in its operations. It wasn’t clear if one actually opened.
Officials have warned that increasing testing capacity will uncover a dramatic spike in the number of confirmed cases. As of 8 p.m., the statewide total had climbed to more than 600 cases, including more than 130 in the eight-county Houston region.
The city is also expected to open a second site, though it’s not yet clear when that will take place.
The few Baytown tests will be shipped overnight to labs operated by Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, under an agreement with the federal government. To avoid overwhelming the labs, each site has a cap of 250 samples per day.
A shortage of protective gear for the workers who staff the site had delayed the rollout. McClendon said the gear used here came from a national stockpile and was delivered Thursday. Gear from that stockpile was sent to select sites across the country, he said.