Governor Abbott extends federally supported COVID-19 testing

Governor Greg Abbott announced July 12 that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended federal support of Community Based Testing Sites in Dallas and Houston through July 31. Abbott previously secured an extension of these sites in June.

“The State of Texas is committed to providing ample testing resources as we work to contain the recent surge in COVID-19 cases,” said Governor Abbott. “Our continued collaboration with our federal partners is essential to our efforts. The extension of this program in Dallas and Houston will help secure more testing for Texans in these communities. There are over 900 testing sites across the state of Texas, and I urge Texans in need of a test to find a site nearest them.”

Texans can visit covidtest.tdem.texas.gov for testing locations near them.

The more recent statement follows a previous announcement issued by the governor’s office July 10 in which he advised Texans that he was working with the federal administration to provide additional resources to combat COVID-19 in the Houston region.

According to Friday’s announcement, the additional resources include an Urban Area Medical Task Force from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) that were scheduled to arrive in the region on July 13 and a Disaster Medical Assistance Team from U.S. Health and Human Services that had also been deployed. These resources add to a DOD Urban Area Medical Task Force that just began operating in Bexar County as well as seven federal assessment teams operating in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, McAllen, Laredo and El Paso this past week, according to the office.

“The governor continues daily collaboration with Texas’ federal partners to expand resources for any regions to respond to COVID-19,” the statement read.

“Texas is grateful to the federal government as well as the President and Vice President for working swiftly to provide additional resources to the state as we work to mitigate COVID-19 and care for our fellow Texans,” Abbott said at the time of the announcement. “We will continue to work with our local and federal partners to ensure all resources and needs are met throughout the state.”