TEXAS – Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, would open up six new COVID-19 testing locations throughout Texas to support the surge of virus cases.
“Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus,” Abbott said. “While the Biden administration has cut supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments and testing kits when they are needed most, the State of Texas is urging the federal government to step up in this fight and provide the resources necessary to help protect Texans. Testing sites, additional medical staff, and continued shipments of therapeutics from the federal government will help us continue to save lives and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
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The new testing sites will be placed in the following counties: Bexar, Cameron, Dallas, Harris, Hidalgo and Tarrant. Abbott said the following counties were chosen based on current COVID-19 metrics, including positivity and hospitalizations.
The additional testing sites will be placed in the above counties to help identify people with COVID-19, including the omicron variant, and help prevent and reduce further transmission, according to the news release.
The Texas Department of State Health Services also requested additional allocations of sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic that is proven to be effective in fighting the omicron variant of COVID-19 and reducing hospitalizations.
The agency also requested that the federal government continue to supply Texas with Regeneron and bamlanivimab, monoclonal antibody treatments, for other strains of COVID-19 that have also proven to help reduce hospitalizations across the state. DSHS has also requested three teams of medical personnel to provide additional support to hospitals in urban areas of the state that do not have DSHS-contracted staff.