HOUSTON — The City of Houston is looking to open an additional mass COVID-19 testing site after two sites reached capacity.
City Health officials say the Southwest Multi-Service Center on High Star Dr. and the Hiram Center on Fuqua St. reached it’s 250-testing limit Wednesday.
They say no one was turned away. Anyone who came to get a test was still able to get tested.
Dr. Stephen Williams, City of Houston Health Department Director says demand for COVID testing is surging.
"It's true what we've seen has been an increased in demand,” he said.
People at the Southwest Multi-Service Center KHOU 11 spoke to had different reasons for getting tested.
Some are getting it for work.
“I'm in a household where we have two people that recently got it, so I just wanted to be safe,” said Kamil Lawal.
Others are doing it for upcoming holiday gatherings.
“We have family coming into town and then we also have several get to get togethers upcoming,” said Melody Rodriguez.
Zachary Merridt said concerns with the new Omicron variant are his reason.
"It’s getting a little bit more intense nowadays then it was a couple month ago," he said. "You got to be safe."
Williams says over the last week, their four city-ran testing locations were close to reaching capacity.
He says the numbers have them looking to expand.
“The main thing is we’re keeping tabs on what’s happening and looking at the potential of opening up a larger site next week,” he said.
He says the testing demand is good sign people are taking the right precaution, but are also pushes the importance of getting the shot.
“We want to stress that people who are unvaccinated, they need to get vaccinated. Those people who have not taken booster we’re encouraging those folks to get boosters," he said.
If you want to get tested, we have ways you can do so here.