A COVID-19 surge testing site at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport will remain open for a couple of weeks longer than originally planned.
The mega-testing site was originally set to remain open on weekdays through Aug. 26, but will now be in operation through Sept. 11.
The move comes after the White House coronavirus task force last week said Georgia led the nation in the rate of new cases in the previous week.
Getting tested for COVID-19 at the airport site is free and open to anyone in Georgia regardless of symptoms. Those interested in making an appointment for a test should go to doineedacovid19test.com.
The site can conduct as many as 5,000 tests a day, but demand has not come near that level. On a daily basis, the number of people tested at the mega-testing site has ranged from 690 to 1,446 a day, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. However, DPH said “there is still a need for people to be tested for COVID-19″ and the mega-testing site offers “quick throughput.”
The testing site is at a new airport park-ride lot at 1800 Sullivan Rd. in College Park. The parking lot was completed earlier this year but never opened due to weak travel demand amid the pandemic.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams and Gov. Brian Kemp held a press conference Aug. 10 when the test site opened as one of a several surge testing sites around the country.
At the time, the White House Coronavirus Task Force had identified Georgia as one of 21 states in the “red zone” for severe spread of the coronavirus, metro Atlanta was identified as a “hot spot” and Kemp said Clayton County, where most of the airport is located, was a “good area to target” because it had a test positivity rate of 22%.
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