Bastrop County to conduct random COVID-19 testing
BASTROP COUNTY, Texas - The Bastrop County Health Authority and the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management will conduct random COVID-19 testing within the county.
According to the county, health officials will be conducting random testing on approximately 150 volunteers at 14 different locations around the county on Thursday, April 23, and Friday, April 24.
On Thursday afternoon, volunteers were test screened at a Supermercado in Cedar Creek.
“In the community, we just wanna know what we are dealing with,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Bastrop County Health Authority. “Our goals are to assess what the level of viral burden is or how much of the virus is in our community. We’ve had limited access to testing so we have targeted testing at this point for those who are sick.”
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County officials say the purpose of the testing is to collect data from Bastrop County adults who have not been ill or tested positive for COVID-19, in order to better assist the county's efforts to mitigate the spread of the disease.
"Random testing is done so there is a better understanding of the pattern and spread of COVID-19 in the county," said Dr. Walkes.
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The county listed these random testing benefits:
- An important tool in the fight to slow and reduce the spread and impact of the virus.
- Helps to allocate medical resources and staff more efficiently.
- Helps officials with planning and guidelines for when businesses and other community activities are able to reopen.
“If we catch it early and get those people in isolation sections that can help us decrease the risk of serious illness and then high-risk population,” said Dr. Walkes. “We are going to take that data and have our epidemiologist look at the data and then give it to our policymakers and let them make good evidence-based decisions on how to open businesses and how to get our economy going again.“
On May 1, Bastrop County announced the tests resulted in zero COVID-19 positive cases.
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