The free testing is being encouraged in addition to the county’s efforts to up Tarrant’s vaccination rate as transmission and hospitalizations from COVID-19 continue to spike. As of Aug. 5, there were 684 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county.
“If you’re not feeling good, get tested,” Tarrant County judge Glen Whitley said Aug. 3, during a presentation to the county commissioners court on the pandemic. “Let’s not forget about the testing sites.”
Free testing is being offered on Mondays at the Northeast Subcourthouse (645 Grapevine Highway, Hurst) from 8 a.m. to noon; Tuesdays at the Southwest Public Health Center (6551 Granbury Road, Fort Worth) from 8 a.m. to noon and at the Bagsby-Williams Public Health Clinic (3212 Miller Ave., Fort Worth) from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays at the Northwest Public Health Center (3800 Adam Grubb Road, Lake Worth) from 8 a.m. to noon; Thursdays at the Southeast Subcourthouse Arlington (700 E. Abram St., Arlington) from 8 a.m. to noon; and Fridays at the Mansfield Subcourthouse (1100 E. Broad St., Mansfield) from 8 a.m. to noon.
More details on the county’s free testing program can be found here.
Tarrant County Public Health director Vinny Taneja and his team are also continuing to encourage residents to get vaccinated, noting the county is up to 55% of the eligible population (ages 12-and-older) with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Taneja, while presenting to the commissioners court Aug. 3, noted precautions such as masking are important because concurrent with the spike in COVID-19 cases in Tarrant is a spike in respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, that is particularly impacting children. Taneja informed commissioners that around 10 to 12 percent of recent visits to the emergency room of children ages 4-and-under in Tarrant have been for RSV.
“We’ve got a doubleheader happening in our community, unfortunately, with COVID and RSV,” Taneja said.
Learn more about Tarrant County’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts here.
