Winter storm shutters COVID test sites in Triangle
The impending storm shut down COVID testing sites across the area Friday, leaving people seeking a test empty-handed.
Posted — UpdatedThat's left anyone who needs a test right now with no easy way to get one.
Garner resident Eddie Irizarry came to the Wake County testing site on Kidd Road on Friday. He was surprised to find it closed.
Irizarry had already spent hours on the hunt for a test. His employer requires him to show a negative result in order to come in for his shift.
“I drove to three Fast Meds. They are all shut down," Irizarry told WRAL News. "I am a maintenance tech, so I have to salt the property — if I can get a COVID test to get back to work.”
Wake County shut down all five of its clinics Friday and Saturday, canceling more than 3,000 appointments. The county says all canceled appointments will be honored on Monday, though wait times are likely to be long.
The cold and snow also shut down Mako Medical’s state clinics at PNC Arena and at the Word of God Church in southeast Raleigh.
On a regular day, the Word of God site tests about 500 people. On Friday, its parking lot was empty.
"This is the first time I have come and they have been closed,” said a Raleigh resident who asked not to be identified by WRAL News. "I understand, because it’s freezing out here.”
The woman said she tested positive a couple of weeks ago. She was hoping for a negative result.
She says she'll come back after the storm passes. For now, her plan is "just to relax at home."
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