Hilton Head’s free COVID test site relocated after residents swarmed, causing traffic jam
Hilton Head Island’s site to get a free COVID-19 test is being relocated days after residents swarmed the location in their cars and caused a major traffic jam.
Starting Monday, Jan. 17, the island’s drive-thru testing run by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is being moved to Crossings Park at 4 Haig Point Circle near the Cross Island Expressway, according to a town news release.
Those interested in testing should enter from Haig Point Circle and follow directions to the soccer field, it said. The site is only active on Mondays, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to receive a PCR test.
The test site was previously at at Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue station off of Squire Pope Road. Earlier this week, testers waited for hours there to get their noses swabbed.
One Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reporter waited in his car for almost three hours to get tested.
The testing event was forced to end early because the “demand for testing today was far greater than anticipated and exceeded [DHEC’s] supply of test kits,” the town said in a tweet.
Demand has been soaring for tests nationwide as the omicron variant of COVID-19 is highly contagious and infecting a large swath of Americans.
Beaufort County broke another new case record Friday with 618 new confirmed cases, DHEC reported.
Additionally, South Carolina broke its statewide case record Friday, reporting more than 19,400 confirmed and probable infections.
Those looking to find a different site to get tested in Beaufort and Jasper Counties can use DHEC’s online map.
This story was originally published January 15, 2022 at 1:15 PM.
