Five San Antonio COVID-19 testing facilities set to close
Like many sports venues across the country, the Alamodome has already seen thousands of people get tested for COVID-19 every day as a makeshift testing site. However, the number of COVID-19 tests looking for San Antonian has dropped significantly over the past two weeks. As a result, five different testing sites across the city are eminently closing.
San Antonio Metropolitan Health is closing the Alamodome testing center on Monday, February 28.
Community Labs, responsible for numerous testing facilities in the city, announced on Tuesday (February 22) that it would close four other facilities. These test sites first opened to serve the city’s needs as the omicron variant surged in January this year. They will cease operations on Friday February 25, citing a significant decrease in the number of tests.
“If you remember, back in January, people were desperate to find resources to get tested,” Community Labs’ Mary Ullmann Japhet told MySA. “We had very strong, pent-up demand in our community. So once we opened these sites, we were just, you know, inundated with people, which is why we opened.”
“At our peak in January, we were testing 6,000 people a day, and now it’s less than 200,” Japhet adds.
These numbers were tallied across Community Labs’ eight public test sites. Since the public sites began operating in January, they have performed 60,400 COVID-19 screenings. The most recent figure, less than 200 testers, was collected on Thursday, February 17.
At the same time, the positivity rate on public sites of community laboratories has fallen from 53% in mid-January to 14% currently, which is still “nothing to complain about”, explains Japhet.
“It’s still very high,” she adds. “We hope to get back into the single digits very soon.”
Ultimately, the San Antonio Fire Department and Metro Health have the final say on whether or not a testing center closes. Upcoming closures will occur at Copernicus Community Center, Yates Community Center, St. Philip’s College and Melendrez Community Center.
“The reduction in the number of public testing sites in no way means that COVID-19 is no longer a threat,” said Sal Webber, president of Community Labs in a press release. “We encourage everyone to follow the advice of the CDC and our own metropolitan health authorities and get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible. Community Labs will be there to serve our community through mass public testing for as long as we need it.
The nonprofit continues to operate on 300 school campuses in 13 area school districts and several local businesses. Testing sites that will continue to provide free PCR tests include Divine Providence Catholic Church, Alamo Colleges District Support Operations Building, and Wonderland of the Americas.