CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With holidays coming to a close Coastal Bend residents are taking that extra precaution to make sure they're protected against the Omicron variant.
Driscoll Children's Hospital has seen an increase in parents wanting their children tested.
Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Jaime Fergie with Driscoll Children's Hospital said more people are wanting their children tested for the virus as cases began to spike. Due to the increase in demand the hospital will resume their drive thru COVID-19 testing.
"Because we are seeing the demand," Fergie said. "People want to have the place to have their children tested, so we are going to try and help as we have done before and make it easier for families to have their children tested."
Fergie said they stopped offering the drive thru testing a while ago due to not having as much of a need for it anymore, but now that has changed and the drive thru testing resumes Dec. 29.
Due to Omicron being a relatively new variant, Fergie said that not much can be said about the variants impact on children.
"When we look at other parts of the country some areas are showing hospitalizations," Fergie sad. "New York has shown some hospitalization in children, but nothing particularly severe at this point."
Dr. Fergie says they've also seen an increase in vaccinations among children.
"We are seeing more and more children being vaccinated, but unfortunately at low levels," Fergie said. "We still need to do so much better."
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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