(EDINBURG, Texas) July 7, 2020 – The Bert Ogden Arena and H-E-B Park will serve as host sites for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ FREE COVID-19 testing program, which will be open to the public beginning on Wednesday, July 8th through Tuesday, July 14th from 8 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily, or until 5,000 tests are administered per day.  The testing is FREE and open to the public. 

This testing site is a collaboration between the City of Edinburg, the State of Texas, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Hidalgo County with the support of Bert Ogden Arena and H-E-B Park.

“It’s our privilege and pleasure to host this wonderful humanitarian effort at our facilities.  We were blessed to be able to keep the doors open during this time, keeping people employed, allocating our resources when needed to be of service to our community,” says Shalimar Madrigal, spokesperson for Golden Grape Entertainment.  “We are committed to bringing people together, and until we can do that safely for concerts and sporting events, we will continue to bring people together in benefit of the greater good.  Whether that be by partnering with the Rio Grande Valley Food Bank to distribute food to thousands of Valley residents, or collecting life-saving blood donations for Vitalant, or partnering with the City of Edinburg, the State of Texas, and the federal government to conduct Covid-19 testing, we believe that Unidos Podemos, or ‘United We Can’.  This has been our company mantra throughout this difficult time, our guiding principle. We are stronger together.”

You do not have to have symptoms to be tested but you must pre-register before testing and print out a voucher.  Create an account and register for your free test here.

Participants must bring their printed voucher and I.D. to the Bert Ogden Arena at the designated appointment time to be pre-screened, and will then be directed to the H-E-B Park for administration of the test.  Please enter the facilities through the main entrance and follow instructions upon arrival.   

“Our numbers are surging daily and the only way to try to stop the spread of COVID-19 is to identify who is positive,” said Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina. “The goal is to test 35,000 people in the next seven days. People who test positive must stay home. There is no other way to stop the spread. We have to stop the contact between people in our community.”   

 Please visit the Bert Ogden Arena and H-E-B Park social media channels for updates.

#UNIDOSPODEMOS