Nearly 30% of COVID-19 tests came back positive at Long Center site

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing at The Long Center draws large crowd

The free testing site is drawing lots of Austin residents, and a high percentage of those tested on Monday were positive.

AUSTIN, Texas - More people and more tests showed up Tuesday at the Nomi Health drive-up site.

The mobile location in front of the Long Center is coming off of a big Monday. About 500 rapid tests were administered, but the turnout is not what turned heads– 28% of those tested Monday were positive for COVID-19.

"So the typical rating of a pandemic level is about five percent. Now we're talking about yet a statistically significant population. But based on our casual observation, twenty-eight percent of the folks that get tested say being positive is a bit concerning. And it's also in line with what the other rates were seen in other major metropolitan across the United States that we test as well. So these are areas that are getting high traffic and high infection rate, which it should be a concern to everybody in the community," said Boe Hartman CTO & Co-Founder of Nomi Health.

Texas runs out of monoclonal antibody treatments

Shipments of more monoclonal antibody treatment aren't expected to reach Texas until January.

A closer look at the 28% revealed:

79% of them were fully vaccinated
92% were experiencing symptoms

Officials with Austin Public Health are not surprised.

"No, it's that high. But when you put it into the context of all the other to all the testing that's being done right now, we are seeing an increase in our positivity rate that's climbed over the last week, said Dr. Desmar Walkes.

Williamson County is also reporting a bump.

Williamson County positive test rates:

12/24 = 13.8%
12/25 = 18.1%
12/26 = 24%
12/27 = 13.5%

Source: Curative

The actual rates across the metro area may even be under-reported. Some rapid tests are known to produce false negatives.

"There have been a lot of gatherings with people who may have not known they were ill, didn't get tested before they went to the gathering or people that had sniffles and thought it was allergies, and they actually had COVID. So we are seeing more positive tests coming back right now," said Walkes.

Organizers at the Nomi Health site are also addressing another problem– long lines of vehicles trying to get to the site. The line of cars Tuesday went across Ladybird Lake and at times past city hall. Among those waiting in line was Robin Allison.

"It’s been crazy. I've been turned away from Urgent Care places, appointments have been canceled for testing, and now I've been in line, and I’m hoping this works, so I can get back to work," said Allison.

To address the testing gridlock Nomi health brought in more people; doubling staff.

"We are a very digital first organization. So now that we're using more staff, we're actually checking people in the line so that when they get up, it's about a minute to minute and a half a car to get tested. Pretty fast, it seems very fast," said Hartman.

The site will continue to operate through the end of the week. But for those in line– it was still very much a hurry-up and wait situation.

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MORE HEADLINES:
Free drive-up COVID-19 testing being offered at The Long Center
Austin health officials update city's staging thresholds for Risk-Based Guidelines
Austin Public Health offering free COVID tests at two new locations
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