COVID testing demand soars just as weather forces some Pierce County sites to close
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Snow Days 2021
The frigid cold that gripped Western Washington and dumped several inches of snow in the city is expected to stick around.
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Thursday update: Walk-up testing sites located in the parking lots of the Tacoma and South Hill malls are closed Thursday.
Just as demand for COVID testing is soaring, several sites will be shuttered Thursday in anticipation of inclement weather continuing to frost the region.
One to three inches of new snow along with gusty winds was forecast for Pierce County overnight Wednesday and into Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Pierce County Emergency Management is closing its sites in Lakewood and Tacoma (Puyallup Tribe) Thursday. The Lakewood site will remain closed through Saturday. The tribal site at 2024 E. 29th St. will be closed through Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Lakewood site at 3003 107th St. S. tested 1,405 people, according to spokesman Mike Halliday.
The site had to shut down for a couple of hours Wednesday to catch up with overwhelming demand, he said. He expects demand to remain high when it reopens.
“We would just encourage everybody to be patient with each other and the staff,” he said.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department closed its Puyallup site at 10417 Canyon Road E. early Wednesday due to high demand.
“Just to make sure we got through everybody in line,” said spokesman Kenny Via.
It will be closed Thursday-Monday.
TPCHD’s Bonney Lake and Cheney Stadium sites were both scheduled to be open Thursday, but weather could change that, Via said. Cheney will be appointment only on Thursday. Both will close early on Friday.
Anyone interested in testing can use TPCHD’s testing locator website to find open sites.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
