"This particular testing center is an important once because we're getting now, really, into the northern reach of Precinct 4 and Harris County so that those residents who are here, who are wanting to be tested and needing to be tested can go online, preregister, come on in and ... make sure that they are safe and that their family members are safe," Cagle said in the video.
Free testing will be offered daily from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. To learn more about how coronavirus testing works, click here.
"The test that is being administered here is also a particularly important test," he said. "Some of the testing sites have differing types of swabbing systems that don't allow you to test children under the age of 13, but this has the test that you can administer [to them], so if you're concerned about your kids and want to make sure that they're safe and healthy, you can come here to this testing site."
Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of the Harris County Public Health Department, said testing appointments are scheduled strategically to avoid long wait times. Shah added most patients are done within 15-30 minutes.
"We want to make sure everybody remembers that testing continues to be critical. It's the foundation of everything that we do," Shah said in the video. "The more we test, the more we learn. When we learn, we know where we might have people who have COVID-19 in our community, and then, we can do all the things you've been hearing about in the news about contact tracing, following up, isolating—doing all of the things we need to do to protect our community."
In addition to encouraging testing, Shah reminded everyone to continue to wear face coverings in public, to wash their hands and to stay physically distant from others.
"The key message, also, is if you're a senior above the age of 65; if you have chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, lung disease [or you're] on cancer treatment—we really want you to be thinking about your risk if you are going out in the community," Shah said "We want you to do everything you can to protect yourselves [even] if it means that sometimes you might make decisions not to go out."
Those who are interested in getting tested can register by clicking here or calling 832-927-7575.
"We're really proud of how the community has pulled together to make this happen," Cagle said. "It's exciting that we're starting to reopen our economy, but as we do that, we need to be responsible in terms of protecting one another and getting back to work, and I believe that this testing center will help us do that."
