Williamson County opens up free COVID-19 testing as area sees spike in cases at nursing home

GEORGETOWN, Texas - Williamson County is opening up free COVID-19 testing just as the area saw a spike in cases at a nursing home.

“Currently it’s a single site at this particular point, we are currently working to build additional sites into what we are doing in Williamson County,” said Derrick Neal, executive director for the Williamson County Health District.

The health district is looking to get more testing done in the area especially since the county has been ordering hundreds of tests a day since earlier this month.

RELATED: Williamson County: 78% increase in coronavirus cases over 10-day period

“This won’t be drive through initially. On Thursday this will be actually a location that we have identified in Georgetown, Texas,” said Neal.

Without costing you a dime, the survey asks you questions like your symptoms, when did you start experiencing these symptoms and some medical history. Once done, you will be given an appointment at the testing site which right now the county wants to keep private.

“We have a limited amount of resources and we want to be strategic and smart with the limited funding that we have so we really want to reserve these tests for those individuals exhibiting those symptoms,” said Neal.

News of this testing comes right when a nursing home in the county is seeing a cluster of COVID-19 cases, the total at around 50 with a mix between workers and residents. “Results are still coming in. We tested a little over 200 individuals in that facility,” said Neal.

The county is currently doing contact tracing in order to contain the virus, but right now it’s not known how the virus made its way there. "COVID-19 is highly contagious, it’s very easy to get it, it can survive outside the body on surfaces for a while,” said Neal.

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