SAN ANTONIO – There are resources to make COVID tests easier to get.
Insurance companies are now covering tests, the White House is offering to ship tests for free, and we just got a new drive-thru testing site.
But there appear to be more people flooding certain sites. Tt’s getting so bad, some cars are crowding nearby neighborhoods.
Signs marking the front of testing sites are followed by long lines of cars impacting neighborhoods. We spoke to frustrated people in Oak Hills and Piper Meadows. They understand the need for testing but feel like the lines invading privacy and causing safety concerns. pic.twitter.com/LtApDlV06q
— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) January 18, 2022
The testing site is a drive-thru, but the line wrapping around the COVID Testing Station building and into the Piper Meadows neighborhood suggests a full stop.
“It’s been pretty awful,” Jasmin Jones said, she lives in Piper Meadows.
Jones is open with her annoyance at this intrusion on her neighborhood.
“It’s an atrocity. Honestly, it’s too much. It’s been that way for about three weeks,” Jones said.
She works from home and has made a game out of watching the cars sit and wait to move up even a place in line.
“I’ve seen cars waiting for at least two, two and a half three hours,” Jones said.
The line on Tuesday was mild compared to other days, Jones explained, but the Piper Meadows neighborhood isn’t alone. It’s the same story in Oak Hills.
“It’s just like a wall of just that every day and you walk out of your home, you try to go to work and you want to get it out of your mind, but it’s just right there in your face,” Chris Oppenheimer said, he lives in Oak Hills.
Oppenheimer and his neighbors are fed up with the line from Yes No COVID.
Before this, Patty Wynn worked in her yard daily, but with a constant crowd of people outside, it’s become uncomfortable.
“It’s a weird feeling. Yeah, it’s hard to explain, but it’s a weird feeling,” Wynn said.
The sites aren’t run by the city, so we called COVID Testing Station and Yes No COVID, but both of their voicemail lines were full.
The Oak Hills group and Jones in Piper Meadows hope the availability of at-home COVID tests from The White House will give them some relief.
The White House will send you four free COVID-19 tests. You need to put in your information and those tests will be sent to your address.
Some people living in apartments say they’ve been having some trouble getting the site to recognize their address. If you have that issue, you will need to call 1-800-ASK-USPS or you can submit a service request online.
There are other options for testing, the new drive-thru testing site opened up at the Alamodome.
They’re open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, but you will need to make an appointment.