As businesspeople return from holiday trips to their places of employment, some people may be interested in taking COVID tests as a precaution.
The New York Times has been tracking COVID numbers across the nation and regularly gathers numbers from the CDC and other health organizations to report an accurate COVID heatmap and case count.
According to their most recent data, released roughly 21 hours ago, Cumberland County is seeing approximately 50 new COVID cases a day. Harnett County is seeing about 18 new cases per day, and Hoke County is seeing approximately 10 new cases per day.
In Cumberland County, 58 percent of citizens are vaccinated. Thirty percent of Hoke residents are vaccinated and 36 percent of Harnett residents are vaccinated.
The risk for unvaccinated people based on cases and test positivity is considered to be very high risk in Cumberland County, very high risk in Hoke County and high risk in Harnett County.
A few new testing sites for COVID have opened up in Cumberland County.
One of the newest sites is by Ameritech Diagnostics Laboratories, PLLC, a lab based in Clayton.
The lab already had a site set up at 726 Ramsey Street and at the Crown Complex, and it recently established another location in Hope Mills, which offers PCR COVID tests with a 24-48 hour turnaround time, although the turnaround has been closer to a 24-hour time frame.
As a new and less invasive way of testing, Ameritech will be offering saliva tests or nasal swab tests at all of their local sites.
Ameritech is also offering concierge services that can be utilized by business, churches, events, the homebound and more.
The PCR tests are free, as they are covered by all insurance companies, Medicaid and the CARES Act. The 10-minute rapid test has a minimal fee.
The new Hope Mills location is in Village Shopping Center, located at 3020 N. Main Street, Hope Mills. Rapid testing is available at the Hope Mills site on a regular basis and at the other sites upon request. The sites are open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Concierge services can be reached on the weekends at 919-243-1831.
StarMed Healthcare, based in Raleigh, is another one of the healthcare companies that has opened a COVID-19 care site, this one at 6917 Raeford Road. It provide vaccines, testing and the administration of COVID-19 antibody therapy doses.
Free of cost, StarMed will offer Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson shots. They perform both PCR and rapid tests by nasal swab, which is also free of cost. Both services are available for people of all ages.
For people over 12, antibody therapy is available and free. Although the treatment is not intended to be used as a replacement for the vaccine, it can be used to shorten the severity of symptoms in people who are exhibiting COVID symptoms and decrease the chance of hospitalization.
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