free testing at walgreens

2 Houston-area Walgreens locations now offer free COVID-19 testing

Two Houston-area Walgreens locations will offer free, drive-through testing.

Residents of Houston and Harris County can soon enjoy faster testing for COVID-19. Harris County and Walgreens announced a joint initiative to offer free, drive-through testing for those who suspect they may have the virus.

Walgreens announced that two of its locations — one in Houston and one in Pasadena — will offer testing for COVID-19 starting Friday, April 17. The two Houston-area locations —14531 Westheimer Rd. in Houston and 101 W. Southmore Ave. in Pasadena — are the only Walgreens outposts in Texas currently offering these tests, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at an April 16 press conference. Walgreens is only offering testing in a handful of states.

These are rapid “live virus” tests — taking 15 minutes — and results will come back in approximately 24 hours, Hidalgo added. Currently, Walgreens has capacity for up to 250 tests per day. A representative for Walgreens said there may be plans to expand testing.

Those interested must go through an online screening tool via ReadyHarris.org or Walgreens.com to make an appointment. Meanwhile, Harris County currently has a total of nine testing sites at no cost.

This comes as Harris County has seen well beyond 4000 cases, and at least 50 deaths, with 84 new cases in Harris County and two new deaths as of April 16. Hidalgo noted that most of those deaths have been seniors.

Hidalgo added that in order for Houston and Harris County to get back to work, Houston and Harris County must "reach our peak" and get more mass testing — especially rapid testing.

"We're not out of the woods by a long shot," she added. "We hope and trust that private sector supply chains will keep up," she said of increased testing demands.

According to CultureMap news partner, ABC13, Walgreens began administering COVID-19 antibody blood tests to Houston first responders in a move Fire Chief Samuel Pena is calling "a huge help" for the department.

"It's just one more avenue, and it gives us a quicker return," said Pena.

The tests were made available for first responders — including Houston firefighters and police officers.

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H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).