LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — "The mission that we set out to do has been fulfilled."
That's the latest from Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner Eric Zgodzinski, referring to closing the two mass COVID-19 testing sites in the county.
Since Jan. 7, slightly more than 6,000 people were tested at the Lucas County Rec Center and the UAW Local 12 hall.
"The usage of the first, really, week or so was extremely, we'll call it high," Zgodzinski said. "It never reached its full capacity."
At the rec center, officials were anticipating to test a thousand people per day, but they were averaging in the low hundreds.
Shortly after that location opened, the health department opened the walk-in testing site at UAW Local 12, hoping it would be a better location for the community. Still though, the numbers were low.
"I think maybe too, some of the home testing that we had out there might have lessened the amount of people going to the sites, too," he said.
The sites were a partnership among the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, ProMedica and Mercy Health, as well as the Ohio National Guard.
The health commissioner said the testing sites were able to take the pressure off the hospital systems and lower the spread of COVID-19 in the community.
"We hope that we see less and less, which I think we will in the coming weeks of disease in the community," he said. "So, there will be less need to test."
To do that, people need to continue getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing a mask and washing their hands, he said.
The vaccination clinic at the rec center will continue operating on Saturdays for the time being.
The health commissioner said officials will monitor the need in the community and make decisions based on that.
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