Due to a record number of patients, Cook Children's Hospital is making changes at area Urgent Care Centers.
The hospital said patient volume is surging, with more than 900 patients seen on Sunday and another 1,000 patients recorded on Monday. The average number of patients seen at the urgent care locations was about 600.
If you need a COVID-19 test for you or your child, the Texas Department of State Health Services has a map/list here.
Cook Children's said the urgent care clinics and the hospital emergency room are seeing "a big influx of parents bringing in children who have been exposed to COVID-19 but show no symptoms."
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The hospital asked on their website that parents, "please avoid using the emergency department for testing if your child is not showing symptoms."
Beginning Tuesday, Cook Children's is making the following changes:
- All Cook Children’s Urgent Care Center locations are available for walk-in only. At this time, the UCCs are not taking online check-ins.
- The outlying Cook Children’s Urgent Care locations will close at 9 p.m. and the Fort Worth location will close at midnight.
Urgent Care Center locations will offer two options for patients.
- One option will strictly be a lab-only visit for those patients that simply need a COVID-19 test but don’t need to be seen for an urgent care visit.
- The other option will be the usual urgent care visit for all other patient needs.
The children's hospital said Tuesday afternoon that changes are necessary to ensure they can continue providing excellent care to a record number of patients.
