Tulsa Health Department Expands Testing As COVID-19 Cases Rise

As COVID-19 cases rise in Tulsa County, the Tulsa Health Department is expanding opportunities for testing.

The Health Department said it’s going to set up its own testing center sometime next week.

On Wednesday, Tulsa Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart met with the city council to provide an update on the delta variant and rising case numbers in Oklahoma.

Dart said the health department ran their own drive thru testing site for most of the pandemic but stopped when vaccinations picked up and testing demand decreased.

The department still runs testing through Access Medical at seven different locations, but this new testing center will now give more access to Oklahomans who need it.

This comes as the state reports nearly 10,000 active cases of COVID-19.

Wednesday's Numbers: 1,474 New COVID-19 Cases Reported, 6 Virus-Related Deaths Added To Provisional Death Count

Dart said the Delta variant's symptoms can often be similar to a cold, so he hopes this new testing site will encourage more people to get tested.

"We stood our testing down because demand dropped so bad and people were just sitting there and we didn't have time for that, but with the increase in cases, increase in demand in testing, because testing dropped down to almost zero, we're responding to that,” said Dart.

The Health Department is still working on specific details of the testing center.

If you want to get tested in the meantime, THD has more details here.