COVID-19 testing sites in El Paso that don’t require a long wait
EL PASO, Texas -- Borderland residents are driving to various city mega-covid-testing sites, waiting for hours just to get tested.
There are options available where you can be tested in minutes, many times, in less than an hour.
"How long did it take for you to get tested? Just a couple of minutes Are you surprised at how quick it was? Yea, very quick." said Jason Sully, a pilot. Sully was on his way to the airport to fly out of El Paso but had to get tested first at RevIVe Covid testing.
He waited a few minutes here, rather than one of the city's mega testing sites, where people have reported waiting between three to five hours just to get tested.
"Well, it's significantly shorter than other areas, than other testing sites than the city of El Paso. sometimes 15 to 30 minutes, on the longer wait times about an hour or so."
Abc-7 asked, "How is it that you're able to get people tested so fast and it takes the city hours, sometimes as long as five hours? Definitely, you know we've doing testing since March of 2020, so we've been able to work out the kinks." said Carlos Alarcon with Revive Medical
RevIVe, like WeMedical Labs, focuses on getting people to sign up online to speed the process up.
"Our patients come in and out very fast. We do take walk-ins and we try to expedite very fast. But the wait can go anywhere from five minutes to 20 minutes," said Lupe Saenz with We Medical Labs.
ABC-7 put Revive to the test and signed up as a walk-in.
From the time this reporter shared insurance information to the time a lab technician took my specimen took a matter of minutes.
RevIVe results are expected to take 24 hours. WeMedical can take from 48 to 72 hours.
That's around the same time the city takes to get your results back. The difference is that you need to pack your patience with the city.
With the other two private labs, you're ready to pack up and leave in a matter of minutes.
RevIVe has the option of using CARES Act money for testing, as well as taking down your insurance information.
They also give you the option of paying out of pocket. Both labs also have Rapid testing available at a higher cost.
And both labs have multiple testing sites throughout the city.
