AUSTIN (Nexstar) — In an undisclosed location near downtown Austin, dozens of soldiers answer hundreds of phone calls from Texans seeking COVID-19 tests.
The Texas Military Department has staffed these call centers with military personnel to schedule appointments for those signing up for a free COVID-19 test, particularly for rural residents.
“When you join the Army, you probably didn’t think that you would be in a call center talking on a phone, but you absolutely knew that you would be dealing with people,” Col. Paul Cerniauskas of the Texas Army National Guard said.
“On the first day this was in operations, I’d emphasize to the soldiers, ‘When you’re on the phone, you’re on the phone with someone’s family, someone’s family member, could be someone’s friend, someone who is concerned for their personal safety and personal future and therefore you should act accordingly,'” he said.
The sites are identified 24-48 hours in advance, at which point units are mobilized to the different communities.
“The reality is that we would like it to be longer than that,” Col. Cerniauskas said. “As this process stabilizes, perhaps we can get there, we hope to get there.”
Soldiers staffed more than 30 mobile test collection sites over the weekend. They set up two-dozen locations on Monday and they will staff an additional 22 locations on Tuesday, totaling approximately 75 test sites over a four-day period by the end of Tuesday.
The 1,200 soldiers tasked with operating the mobile testing sites represent approximately one-third of the total troops deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Abbott said on April 21 he expected the units collectively to be able to test up to 3,500 people each day.
“The Governor wanted us to go out to areas primarily that weren’t staffed by their own health department,” Col. Peter Coldwell, M.D., of the Texas Army National Guard, said.
“We are a small cog in a very large wheel,” Col. Coldwell said of the military’s role in the testing process. The mobile testing sites set up by the military in Texas have collected more than 6,500 tests in more than 100 counties. The more people tested, the more health officials can assess the medical needs and outlook for a particular community.
“We don’t care where these Texans are, if they’re in urban communities, or rural communities, we’re out there to provide services, particularly in the rural communities where the service isn’t available,” Col. Coldwell said.
Asked whether the surge in rural COVID-19 cases in Texas prompted the emphasis in rural testing, or whether simply testing in these communities yielded positive tests and therefore accounted for an increase case-count, Col. Coldwell said the answer is “both.”
“Not to be difficult, but I think the answer to your question is ‘both,'” he told this reporter.
“We go in, we are doing the testing, so consequently, we’re going to find more cases,” he explained. “And what that also allows us to do if we have what we call hotspot areas, we can come back and do more focused testing in that area.”
“The mobile sites have been a godsend,” State Rep. Mary González, D-Clint, said. As the El Paso region saw a cluster of cases begin to grow, the Texas Army National Guard set up a mobile testing site just outside her district boundary in one of the most rural and lowest-income areas of El Paso County. The closest testing site to her constituents is an 80-minute round-trip drive.
“A lot of those families either don’t have transportation or only have one car per family and a lot of essential workers,” González said. “So if one of the essential workers had to go to work, then there was no way to get to that testing site.”
“Luckily, those mobile sites really make it more accessible and that’s exactly what we need if we’re going to be able to fight this coronavirus successfully,” González added.
Col. Coldwell was the first person to be tested at the mobile testing site in Fredericksburg on April 18.
“I wanted to have that experience, so I can assure your viewers that it is not a scary procedure,” he said. He described a person wearing full protective equipment taking a nasal swab.
“That can be a little scary perhaps for some folks because all you see is the eyes and that’s okay, they’re there for your safety,” he assured. Those tests are transported to labs elsewhere in the state to be processed.
“We’re now seeing more data, which also showed us that there’s more people with the Coronavirus than we thought, but without those mobile sites, we would really have a gap,” González said.
Serving for four decades in the military, Col. Coldwell is familiar with visible enemies, but is applying his training and experience with this invisible one.
“I’ve had two combat tours, I faced the visible enemy in the past,” he explained. “This is the first time for me dealing with a pandemic on such a large scale, but we we apply the principles that we’ve learned and they’re they’ve been effective thus far.”
The Texas Military Department is operating these sites in partnership with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension.
“We improve as we go, we do the best we can all throughout, we identify where we need to need to do better, and keep on going in support of the mission,” Col. Cerniauskas said.
The military-administered tests are free, but an appointment is necessary. Texans can make an appointment by visiting txcovidtest.org or by calling (512) 883-2400.
Texans can locate the nearest COVID-19 test collection site using the Texas Division of Emergency Management map.
These troops will operate at least 22 test collection sites statewide on Tuesday. Click here for a complete list of sites, or by looking at the list below, organized by day and county.
Mobile Test Collection Locations – May 5, 2020
Bastrop County
Bastrop County Testing Site 1
109 Taylor Street, Smithville
5/5/2020
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Bastrop County Testing Site 2
361 State Hwy 95, Elgin
5/5/2020
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Bexar County
Frank Garrett Multi Service Center
1226 NW 18th St., San Antonio
5/5/2020 to 5/6/2020
8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Calhoun County
Bauer Community Center
2300 State Hwy. 35, Port Lavaca
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Cameron County
Harlingen Soccer Complex
4515 E. Harrison Ave., Harlingen
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Cherokee County
First Baptist Church
372 E. 4th Street, Rusk
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Concho County
Volunteer Fire Station
116 E. Blanchard St., Eden
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Gillespie County
Fredericksburg Elementary School
1608 N. Adams St., Fredericksburg
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Hall County
First Baptist Church
121 S. 8th, Memphis
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Harris County
Ortiz Middle School
6767 Telephone Road, Houston
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Worthing High School
9215 Scott St., Houston
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Hood County
Hood County Fire Marshal’s Office
401 Deputy Larry Miller Drive, Granbury
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Hutchinson County
Fairlanes Baptist Church
3000 Fairlanes Blvd, Borger
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Jefferson County
Beaumont Fire Station
747 College Street, Beaumont
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Jim Wells County
Jim Wells County Fairgrounds
3001 S. Johnson St., Alice
5/4/2020 to 5/7/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Kimble County
Stevenson Center
440 N. US Hwy. 83, Junction
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Mitchell County
Mitchell County Hospital
997 W. IH 20, Colorado City
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Navarro County
I.O.O.F. Event Center
601 N. 45th Street, Corsicana
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Nueces County
Richard Borchard Regional Fairgrounds
1213 Terry Shamsie Blvd., Robstown
5/4/2020 to 5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
San Patricio County
Aransas Pass Civic Center
700 Wheeler Ave., Aransas Pass
5/5/2020 to 5/6/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Shelby County
Center First United Pentecostal Church
610 Hurst St., Center
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Taylor County
100 Kent Street, Merkel
5/5/2020
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Webb County
Rio Bravo Community Center
1600 Orquidia Lane, Laredo
5/5/2020
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
