DALLAS — A drive thru COVID-19 testing site in North Dallas is seeing an increase in positive cases from those who have already been vaccinated.
From the beginning of the pandemic, medical experts have said breakthrough COVID-19 infections were rare. But testing sites like MCI Diagnostic Center, which asks its beneficiaries if they’ve been vaccinated or if they’ve previously tested positive for the virus, are seeing breakthroughs happen more and more recently.
In Dallas County health officials are expressing concern as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb in North Texas. The county recently returned to the orange or "extreme caution" section of its COVID-19 risk level chart.
When MCI Diagnostic Center located in North Dallas first opened offering free COVID-19 drive thru testing in January 2021, Dallas County was experiencing the highest daily case rate of residents testing positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
That January, the county’s provisional seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases reported a rate of 79.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents.
For months, the coronavirus testing site was busy offering free testing, paid rapid testing and vaccinations. The site, a partnership between The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) and MCI Diagnostic Center in Dallas, had a line of cars during its first hour of operation on January 11.
After a busy winter season, testing traffic slowed-down as COVID-19 cases dropped in Dallas in the spring and the center’s staff focused on offering vaccinations. Testing became secondary, until recently.
“I remember the pivotal turning point for us was a few weeks back whenever a whole family tested positive,” said Robert Valderas, a lab technician support at MCI Diagnostic Center. “I started getting calls of people saying ‘I’m fully vaccinated,’ and then they come in to get tested and they’re positive, and then the positives started stacking up after each coming day.”
That was in early July when the uptick in COVID cases and deaths in Dallas County and across the state got this site busy again. Now almost a month later, Valderas and his fellow lab technicians are back to heavy testing traffic.
“What people do over the weekend shows up on Monday 72-hours later,” said MCI’s chief of operations Colleen J. Payne. “Yesterday [July 26] this line was full, that’s what it looked like in COVID season and that’s what it’s starting to look like now.”
Payne added the last couple of weeks of July, the testing traffic more than tripled compared to recent months.
The testing site operates out of a former bank building. Beneficiaries drive their car through what was once the bank’s drive-thru lane. Once parked, they can communicate with a lab technician via two-way video. Those technicians then send the nasal swab testing kit from inside a canister sent through the bank's vacuum tube system, making the testing contact-free.
Test results are received by email the next day with a rapid option available for $150, typically used by those traveling out of the country.
According to Dallas County the delta variant is now the predominant strain in North Texas. A recent UT Southwestern model states roughly 1,500 new COVID-19 infections per day are expected by August 19 in Tarrant County.
“There’s no reason or rhyme for it. You could get COVID even with the vaccine and you can get it again if you’ve had previous exposure to COVID,” said Payne. “Those are real facts and we are the laboratory so our data is based on our population in the Dallas Fort Worth area.”
In the last week of July, Texas as a state had more than 10,000 COVID cases in a single day and according to the Texas Department of State Health Services that was the most daily cases since early February.
“Regardless, whether or not you’ve had the vaccine, whether or not you’ve had COVID it is a season and it is time to mask up because of what we are seeing on the ground and a ground group laboratory,” said Payne.
As Valderas continues to see positive test results on a daily basis. He said he feels honored to be able to offer a service he believes in. Unvaccinated himself, he plans on getting the vaccine administered at MCI before he attends his first semester of college at the University of Central Oklahoma.
“I do think it’s helpful that people are getting tested, so they’ll know and can help other people by isolating, or masking up,” said Valderas.
MCI Diagnostic Center is located at 9728 Greenville Ave. Testing is open to all. There is no residency or COVID-19 symptoms requirement to be tested and next-day result screenings are free.
Those receiving a test should present address and photo ID in order to receive results. Non-state issued IDs are accepted. This testing site is operating separately from the mobile, in-home testing services MCI Diagnostic Center provides for the City of Dallas.
For a full list of testing locations and how to request in-home testing services, visit https://dallascityhall.com/Pages/Coronavirus-Testing-Sites.aspx or call 214-670-INFO.
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