Wake County to re-open COVID-19 testing sites Monday
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After closing on Christmas, Wake County will re-open their testing sites beginning Monday morning.
The five county-run sites offer free testing, and do not require ID or insurance. Results are typically posted in 12-24 hours. The locations are open from 7 AM to 7 PM, though appointments are required. Testing site locations are:
- Wake County Southern Regional Center, 130 N. Judd Parkway NE, Fuquay-Varina
- Wake County Northern Regional Center, 350 E. Holding Ave., Wake Forest
- Wake County Eastern Regional Center, 1002 Dogwood Drive, Zebulon
- Vision Church RDU Parking Lot, 5808 Departure Drive, Raleigh
- Wake County Health & Human Services Center Parking Lot, 2845 Kidd Road, Raleigh
NCDHHS also offers free at-home testing, where they will send a kit which can be mailed directly to a lab. In that case, results are usually back in 1-2 days from when the lab receives the sample.
The county's vaccination sites will also return to normal schedule beginning Tuesday, at five locations: Wake County Human Services Center in Raleigh, Wake County Public Health Center in Raleigh, Wake County Northern Regional Center in Wake Forest, Wake County Southern Regional Center in Fuquay-Varina, and Wake County Eastern Regional Center in Zebulon. If you are coming for your second or third dose, you should bring your vaccination card.
Sunday night, ABC11 found many pharmacies had appointments booked for Monday and Tuesday, though there was availability at multiple locations for a number of time slots Wednesday.
The push for testing comes as TSA reported a sharp rise in holiday travel compared to last year, though it did not meet pre-pandemic levels.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the 7-day average of cases topped 175,000 for the first time since January, which is more than twice as high as the beginning of the month.
Wednesday, the last day for which the state reported new data, North Carolina reported 4,889 new cases, up 48% from just two weeks earlier, and the state's test positivity rate topped 10% for the second consecutive day. On a positive note, hospitalizations were at nearly half the level as they were at the same time period last year.
During an appearance on "This Week," Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President, noted that studies showed the Omicron variant causes less severe symptoms than Delta; however, it is believed to be more transmissible.
"If you have many, many, many more people with a less level of severity, that might kind of neutralize the positive effect of having less severity when you have so many more people," said Fauci.
Monday, Governor Roy Cooper will participate in a National Governors Association phone call with the White House to discuss COVID-19.
