Parkland Hospital offering drive-thru COVID-19 testing

Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas will begin offering drive-thru testing for the coronavirus – but not yet to the general public.

The hospital on Monday announced the tests would be available by appointment only. And they are only for current Parkland patients, first responders and health care workers who have a doctor’s order and meet the medically necessary criteria.

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“While we hope to expand capacity in the future, this service is only available to current Parkland patients. Unscheduled, drop-in appointments for the general public will not be available at this time,” the hospital said in a release.

On FOX 4’s Good Day, Stephen Love, the president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, said area hospitals are working on increasing their testing sites.

Some are on campus and some are not. The goal is to keep those who might be infected out of emergency rooms if possible, he said.

Love said the number of positive COVID-19 cases will certainly increase but he is confident that hospitals are stocked up on the medical supplies they need to handle the surge of patients.

“Our hospitals do have the supplies they need. We are very fortunate here in North Texas. We have large systems, excellent material managers and when this virus first broke in the latter part of December and early part of January, our material managers started adding to their inventory,” he said.

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