Delaware County reopens more COVID-19 testing sites due to increased demand
"We're back in the testing business," said Rosemarie Halt, Delaware County's COVID-19 director.
SPRINGFIELD, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Officials in Delaware County are reopening more testing centers due to an increase in demand.
Since August, a steady line of cars has been pulling up to the test site in the parking lot of the St. Kevin Community Parish operated by Personic Health Care on the 200 block of West Sproul Road in Springfield, offering both PCR & rapid testing.
Officials say they have been testing roughly 500 people a day. Some worry they may have been exposed to the delta variant. Others are getting tested due to growing demand from employers.
"I think employees are being told that they have to be tested by their employers. And then I think also there's a growing sense that if they're unvaccinated, they're getting tested just as a precaution," said Rosemarie Halt, Delaware County's COVID-19 Task Force Director.
"I got tested and I made sure I was OK," said Sarah who preferred not to give her last name. She says with the delta variant going around, she got nervous.
"I got vaccinated my first and second and I'm glad I did it because I'm trying to live," she said.
Halt says there are a lot of people out there like Sarah.
"We've been getting calls from people because of the increased interest in testing, wanting to know if the county is also making sites available. So we're offering testing again. We're back in the testing business," she said.
Halt says the county's COVID-19 infection rate continues to rise.
"We're kind of in the high category right now, it's been trending that way. We're not seeing a decrease totally yet. I think the trend is leveling off though," said Halt.
There's also been a high interest in booster shots.
"I mean just to be safe. I mean everybody's got a job to do and I don't want to die for this," said Barry Simmons of West Philadelphia.
Halt says Delaware County will be offering free testing at the Keystone Wellness Center in Chester, the facility in Yeadon and they will sponsoring a few pop-up events throughout the county in the next few weeks.
