As the coronavirus pandemic worsens in the D.C. metropolitan area, backups at testing sites such as the Six Flags America theme park in Upper Marlboro, Md., serve as an example of the increasing demand for tests.
A steady line of vehicles slowly snaked through the Six Flags site Wednesday morning toward the free testing site, WUSA-TV (Channel 9) reported.
The previous day, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced that the state will revert to Phase 2 restrictions because of the surge of cases and hospitalizations.
“We are in the red zone,” the governor said, adding that more than one Maryland resident is dying every hour from the coronavirus, WUSA reported.
Hospitalizations in Maryland have increased by more than 100 percent since Nov. 1 and as of Tuesday more than 1,000 were hospitalized in the state for COVID-19, WUSA reported.
Restaurants have been ordered to reduce capacity to 25 percent and visits to nursing homes and hospitals have been curtailed by Hogan.
The Maryland Department of Health-supported Six Flags site is one of the state’s free public coronavirus testing places. No doctor’s order is needed for an appointment.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the state has roughly 172,000 coronavirus cases and 4,200 related deaths, according to health department statistics.