There are 26 states – including Texas – seeing a rise in new reported cases compared to the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In fact, in Texas, health authorities noted a record of 5,000 new cases in a single day — a rate that Gov. Greg Abbott called “unacceptable.”
In an ongoing effort to help slow the spread of the virus, CVS Health is expanding its COVID-19 testing program by announcing 44 additional test sites at select CVS Pharmacy drive-thru locations across Texas, the company said in a news release.
The new sites opened June 26 add to the 86 locations previously opened in Texas.
In addition to the drive-thru sites, CVS Health has partnered with a number of community organizations to open eight rapid-response community testing sites across the country, including sites at Mercy Clinic’s South Fort Worth Clinic, to increase access to testing for uninsured and underserved populations who are at highest risk for COVID-19.
CVS Health now has a total of 130 drive-thru test sites across Texas, with 83% of sites in counties with underserved communities with greatest need for support.
“One of our greatest strengths as a company is our local presence in communities across the country, which enables us to uniquely expand people’s access to safe and effective COVID-19 testing options and respond to a need for increased testing capacity,” said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO, CVS Health.
Nearly 60% of the company’s 1,400 test sites across the country, including 83% of sites in Texas, are in counties that serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index.
The index tracks a variety of census variables including poverty, lack of access to transportation and crowded housing that may weaken a community’s ability to prepare for and recover from hazardous events like natural disasters and disease outbreaks.
Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting CDC criteria, in addition to state and age guidelines.
Patients must register in advance at https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing to schedule an appointment.
Patients will be required to stay in their cars and will be directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window or a location in the parking lot at a few stores, where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing, and the results will be available in approximately three days.
Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients.
A complete list of CVS Pharmacy drive-thru test sites can be found here:
https://cvshealth.com/covid-19/testing-locations
– FWBP Staff