Walgreens to Introduce Rapid COVID-19 Testing Services in Texas

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Walgreens will introduce rapid testing services for COVID-19 across select parts of the state, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. The move comes as part of a larger effort to increase the number of people tested, and to do so with less aid and supervision from the federal government. Walgreens will also roll out this effort in six other states: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee. Local ABC affiliate KVUE reports that test results will take about 15 minutes to process, and that each site may be able to test up to 3,000 people per day. Time frames for the rollout of these services and locations of testing sites were not specified. As of Thursday, April 9, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services had identified 9,353 cases of COVID-19 across the state with 177 fatalities.