Remaining Community Labs COVID-19 testing sites to close permanently

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — The remaining COVID-19 testing centers operated by Community Labs will close permanently this week.

The COVID-19 test sites located at the Alamo Colleges District headquarters and the Wonderland of the Americas Mall will cease operations after the end of the business day on Friday. Community Labs finished providing schools with testing services on April 4.

Community Labs administered more than two million tests since September 2020 across 13 local school districts, five universities, 14 mass public testing locations and 13 businesses. Labs began testing 400 samples per day at the start of service and increased to 50,000 per day by April.

“It has been an honor to serve the people of San Antonio and South Texas in this way. When we began, we had no idea how long Community Labs would be needed, but we were committed to helping safely return children to the classroom to minimize learning deficits. We were happy to stand up mass public sites when called upon,” said Sal Webber, president of Community Labs. “Now that demand for testing has decreased and the positivity rates are the lowest we’ve seen, we’re suspending operations. We’re not completely going away, though. We’re exploring other ways our nonprofit organization can serve the public health needs of our community.”

Community Labs was founded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by local philanthropists Graham Weston (80|20 Foundation), Tullos Wells (Kronkosky Charitable Foundation) and J. Bruce Bugg Jr. (Tobin Endowment) in partnership with BioBridge Global.