The demand for COVID-19 testing in Youngstown has become so great the city’s health department is extending testing sites into next month.

Appearing on WFMJ Today, Youngstown Health Commissioner Erin Bishop said her department and the National Guard have been offering to test each Thursday over the past nine weeks at various locations in the city.

The final testing location was scheduled to be Thursday at Rising Star Baptist Church from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. However, Bishop says that the demand has become so great, they are scheduling testing events for three Thursdays in December.

Bishop said that 69 people showed up at the first site when testing began.  Last Thursday, there were 318 people tested at St. Edward’s Church on Youngstown’s North Side.

Youngstown has recorded 238 new cases in the past week and 12 Coronavirus-related hospitalizations, and four new deaths.

Some days the health department sees 88 or 92 new cases, said Bishop, who attributes the spike in many instances to extended family get-togethers. Bishop believes that many people do not understand that when health experts say it’s okay to get together with family members, they mean immediate members and not extended family members.

Bishop also said that several positive cases were confirmed among members of a local bowling team.  One of the bowlers died from COVID-19, according to Bishop.