Wake County expanding drive-thru COVID-19 testing, saying demand has doubled

Wake County Public Health will expand its hours at COVID-19 testing sites beginning Monday.

Posted 1:56 p.m. Aug 11, 2021 — Updated 9:45 a.m. Aug 16, 2021

Jessica Patrick

, WRAL multiplatform producer

Wake County Public Health will expand its hours at COVID-19 testing sites beginning Monday.

Now five county-operated sites will run 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each weekday. Officials said the demand for COVID-19 testing has nearly doubled as cases spike across the state and people wait in line for more than an hour for COVID-19 tests like they did before vaccines became widely available.

In North Carolina, 14% of all tests taken in the past day were positive, the state's highest percent positive rate since January.

The testing sites include:

Wake County Human Services-Swinburne

2845 Kidd Road, Raleigh

Wake County Northern Regional Center

350 E. Holding Avenue, Wake Forest

Vision RDU Church

5808 Departure Drive, Raleigh

Wake County Southern Regional Center

130 N. Judd Parkway, Fuquay-Varina

Wake County Eastern Regional Center

1002 Dogwood Drive, Zebulon

You can also find a free testing site using an online resource provided by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Test results from the county-operated sites come back in less than 24 hours. Testing is conducted drive-thru style at no-cost, and no ID is required.

Wake County is encouraging people to order a free at-home testing kit online. Kits are sent out overnight and offer results on par with tests administered at the in-person sites.

'We're in trouble.' Health expert warns peak for Delta variant coming later this year

State and local health officials are also encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. The 15,989 breakthrough cases reported so far in North Carolina in 2021 account for less than 3% of all coronavirus cases, and 89% of COVID-19 deaths since May 6 were in unvaccinated people, WRAL's data trackers found.

Infectious disease expert Dr. David Wohl said he believes the worst of the pandemic is still ahead.

"We're in trouble. Projections are that we are going to be peaking with Delta in October [and] November," said Wohl. "It's only going to get worse. We are backsliding. I have to be really honest, it does look like a lot of this is being driven by the unvaccinated. That's just the reality."

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