HOUSTON – The Houston Health Department is being bombarded by calls about coronavirus testing one day after Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that testing would be open to everyone.

The HHD phone lines opened at 9 a.m., and just two hours later, the agency said it had already given out more than 300 unique ID codes for people to get tested.

In a tweet, the HHD said it was adding operators and lines to the call centers.

Turner also shared a tweet saying the system was overwhelmed and for people to please be patient.

In just two hours, we've already provided more than 300 unique ID codes for people to be tested for #COVID19 at our community based testing sites. We're adding more operators and lines to our call center. Thank you for your response and patience. https://t.co/lvhtlizSmW — Houston Health Dept (@HoustonHealth) April 14, 2020

During his daily update Monday, Turner announced that Houston’s two public testing sites had doubled the capacity and could now test 500 people at each location.

Turner also announced that testing would be opened up to anyone who wanted it, not just people who were showing symptoms.

People can call 832-393-4220 between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. to receive a unique identification code and instructions on where to go for testing and how to obtain their test results.

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