Community-based COVID-19 vaccine and testing sites in Southwest Louisiana will close on Friday, January 21, and testing sites will close at noon on Thursday, January 20, due to expected below-freezing temperatures.

The cold and wet weather forecast on Friday could make the transport of testing samples problematic, and many drive-through locations lack appropriate cold weather shelters for staff. As a result, testing locations throughout Southwest Louisiana will close at noon on Friday to allow for the safe transport of all test samples ahead of the cold weather.

Vaccine sites will operate during regular hours on Thursday and will close on Friday.

Parish health units will continue to operate as normal on Friday.

Sites affected are:

• Jennings American Legion Hospital
• Lake Charles Memorial Hospital
• McNeese State University
• Public health units in Sulphur, Lake Charles, Beauregard Parish, Jeff Davis Parish and Allen Parish

You can find testing site locations and hours at ldh.la.gov/covidtesting or you can call 211 to find a site near you.

Being vaccinated remains the best way to protect yourself against hospitalization. You can learn about vaccination sites near you by calling Louisiana’s vaccine hotline at 1-855-453-0774. You can also find a vaccine site online at ldh.la.gov/covidvaccine or text your ZIP code to GETVAX (438829) in English or VACUNA (822862) in Spanish.