RALEIGH, N.C. — As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, one local health organization is reporting a major increase in the number of people looking to get tested.

What You Need to Know

United Providers of Health offers free COVID-19 testing across the state

It says some sites have seen demand for tests quadruple in the last few weeks

UPOH says about one-third of the people getting tested are under 7

The organization is looking to add sites in more rural areas

The organization United Providers of Health (UPOH) is partnered with the state to offer free COVID-19 testing across the state. Its goal is to reach underserved communities. A few weeks ago, its North Tarboro Street site in Raleigh was testing less than 10 people per day. But on Monday, it tested almost 60 people.

“The biggest challenge in our community sometimes is accessibility as well as costs involved,” said Jerome Brown, the co-founder and managing partner of UPOH.

Brown says it’s not common for underserved communities to be able to walk to a free COVID-19 testing site. He says they've seen a recent increase in demand for tests, which means it’s a valuable resource.

“We’ve gone from some sites doing single digits sometimes a day to quadruple,” Brown said.

Even though Brown is vaccinated, he’s decided to get tested every couple of weeks just to be safe. Brown says many people coming to the site the past few weeks are on the younger side.

“We did maybe 15% to 10% of people coming through all our sites were ages 7 and under. Now it’s 35%,” Brown said.

The site usually offers each person both a PCR test and rapid test. Brown says they’ve found most people don’t know what to do after they get their results. In order to change that, UPOH is connecting people with factual information on vaccines and other COVID-19 resources.

“This resource is available to you. This thing has this at this place for you. And they don’t know. So education and awareness is critical in all communities,” Brown said.

The North Tarboro Street testing site in Raleigh is open every day of the week from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. UPOH offers testing at sites across the state, and it has plans to add more sites in rural areas.

UPOH says it received more funding that will allow it to offer free COVID-19 testing through July 2022.

For more information about the free COVID-19 testing at a UPOH site, call 1-800-701-1023.