As more and more North Carolinians become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, many local health officials are reminding community members testing for the virus is still crucial.

The Orange County Health Department announced Monday one of its free COVID-19 testing sites is changing locations within Chapel Hill. The state vendor Optum Serve has been conducting testing at the UNC R7 parking lot on 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Now, Optum Serve’s testing site will be located at the Southern Human Services Center at 2501 Homestead Road.

Additionally, the health department shared the site’s hours for COVID-19 testing have been will no longer include Saturdays, which the R7 lot had done since the summer. The hours for testing at the Southern Human Services Center are now 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Testing is conducted in the large conference room inside the building’s front entrance.

The other free COVID-19 testing site run by the Orange County Health Department, which is located at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough, will continue with its schedule of Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

North Carolina recorded increases in new COVID-19 cases in late March, chiefly in the 18-49 age demographic. The upticks were some of the first sustained stretches seen in the state since January following record increases in positive cases and hospitalizations over the winter holidays. Orange County Health Department said it continues to urge anyone who experiences symptoms of COVID-19, has been around people outside of their household or thinks they have been exposed to the virus to be tested.

More information regarding the county government’s response to COVID-19 can be found on its website.

 

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