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Amid high demand for COVID tests, new FEMA site keeps busy in Southwest Philly

"We drove here basically as soon as we got dressed," said Maggie Harrison of West Philadelphia.

Maggie Harrison, who works as a school nurse, gives her son Max, 6, a nasal swab, at the FEMA-run testing site at Cibotti Recreation Center in Southwest Philadelphia on Sunday. Nurse Arianne Murphy-Flores is at right. The site opened last week and operates daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Maggie Harrison, who works as a school nurse, gives her son Max, 6, a nasal swab, at the FEMA-run testing site at Cibotti Recreation Center in Southwest Philadelphia on Sunday. Nurse Arianne Murphy-Flores is at right. The site opened last week and operates daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Maggie Harrison didn’t know when she might get the results of her family’s COVID-19 tests.

“I have no idea,” she said. “Faster than never.”

And with appointments at many testing sites booked solid in the city and region, faster than never seemed an improvement — and attainable, at a new testing site.

On Sunday, Harrison, a school nurse, scooped up her two children and headed to the newly opened, FEMA-run testing site at Cibotti Recreation Center in Southwest Philadelphia. The site, promised by President Joe Biden’s administration and opened on Thursday, is expected to conduct at least 500 tests a day.

Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said the new site would be “a big addition to testing” in the city, although availability remains limited.

The two-tent site was not crowded Sunday, as workers helped those without appointments scan codes on their cell phones so they could fill out required forms.

Government figures on patients served, tests administered, and positivity rates were not immediately available. Staffers at the site declined to talk with journalists.

Harrison, of West Philadelphia, works at the Henry C. Lea Elementary School.

She sought testing after her son, Max, 6, said his food tasted funny. Changes in taste and smell aren’t typical symptoms of the new Omicron variant, though they were common in earlier infections.

“I thought I’d check with my doctor, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, maybe, but it’s hard to say without a PCR [test]. Go to CHOP.’ I said I’ve been looking for an appointment at CHOP for over a week. Then he told me about this place, she said. “We drove here basically as soon as we got dressed.”

Max, who is vaccinated, had no symptoms of illness beyond change in taste. His sister, Remi, too young to be vaccinated at age 2, had head-cold symptoms.

“The symptoms are so subtle; they’re more than ever like the common cold,” Harrison said.

She alerted her school that she would be absent on Monday. Soon after, she learned that the school would be going virtual this week.

Inquirer staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.