Already seen? Consumers scramble for covid testing in hard-hit areas

Andrea Mosterman, associate professor of history at the University of New Orleans, was already appalled that she had to wait three days to get a covid-19 test at a Walgreens near her home after coming into contact with someone who tested positive .

But on Sunday, when she showed up to the drive-thru at the pharmacy, she was told the store was running out of test kits and none were available in town. “I told them I had a reservation, but they said it didn’t matter,” she said.

On Monday, anxious to find out her status and return to work, she waited four hours in an emergency care center to get tested. Within minutes, she was told she had tested negative.

Although relieved, Mosterman said the process upset her. “It was incredibly irresponsible of them to promise me a test and make me wait three days to get the test and then say, ‘We don’t have it. “It was so frustrating,” she said.

As the country faces its latest wave of worsening covid cases, consumers again face delays in getting tested, with many turning to social media to complain. The problem occurs primarily in the South and Midwest, where infections caused by the delta variant of the virus proliferate most rapidly.

Around 100,000 new cases of covid are reported every day this week, up from around 12,000 a day in early July. Testing has increased 41% in the past two weeks, to nearly 770,000 tests per day, according to the New York Times analysis of federal and state data.

Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso said the company has seen demand for testing “increase dramatically as the volume of testing in our stores has doubled across the chain from June to July.” Overall, Walgreens have met the demand, he said, despite minor delays in some locations.

The shrinking supply of testing becomes evident when one takes a look at the websites of the country’s two largest drugstore chains, CVS and Walgreens – which have become popular testing sites since cities and states cut back on drugstores. testing to focus on vaccinations this spring.

No appointments were available until Friday at 52 Walgreens locations in and around Jacksonville, Florida, which has one of the highest infection rates in the country on Wednesday. The first option was Thursday morning in Brunswick, Georgia, 70 miles away.

At CVS stores around Jacksonville, testing was not widely available until Tuesday, almost a week later, when 21 of the 35 nearest stores were scheduled to meet. If anyone was willing to go 15-20 miles, a handful of slots were available on Monday, but nothing earlier.

Duval County in Jacksonville had opened a public testing site this week, but health officials said they were weighing the opening more due to growing demand.

In Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, authorities were planning to open testing sites after residents reported they were waiting up to three days.

Experts say the tests are essential for identifying patients for treatment or isolation, as well as for tracking the spread of the disease.

“It’s understandable that resources have been taken away, but testing is still a very important part of the pandemic,” said Gigi Gronvall, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

States have closed many of their mass testing sites in recent months due to declining demand and the need to focus on immunization.

Dr Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territory Health Officials, said pharmacies likely have a sufficient supply of tests, although they may have to redistribute them to meet demand. increased in severely affected areas.

“It’s no surprise that there has been a bit of back-up,” he said.

CVS Health spokeswoman Tara Burke said her company was largely responding to demand, but would not comment on consumer complaints about waiting three or more days for a test.

“We continue to be able to meet the demand for COVID-19 testing, even with an increasing number of patients seeking tests at one of our more than 4,800 CVS pharmacies across the country, offering tests with same day and next day appointments in most geographies. “she said in an email response to KHN.

The country’s largest pharmacies have been popular testing sites, although consumers have other options including going to their doctor, emergency care facilities, or outpatient clinics. Testing at all of these locations is available at no additional cost.

Consumers can also test themselves at home with kits that cost as little as $ 25 and get results in 20 minutes.

But these tests are not as precise as the molecular tests analyzed in the laboratory. Rapid tests carry a higher risk of a false negative result, especially for people without symptoms; that is, the test shows that you have no covid when you actually do.

A spokesperson for Abbott, who makes BinaxNOW one of the home tests, said the company is working with retailers to meet “increased demand in parts of the country as case rates rise and that testing needs and guidance change. “

Even areas of the country that haven’t seen huge increases in covid cases have seen appointment slots fill up at major pharmacies and other testing sites.

In San Diego County, Calif., CVS appointments weren’t available until the weekend on Wednesday, and 13 of San Diego city’s 20 Walgreens branches did not have appointments until Friday. .

San Diego County has walk-in testing sites every day of the week, in addition to places where appointments are required or recommended. In early July, the county – California’s second most populous – recorded an average of 7,200 tests per day. At the end of the month, it averaged over 11,800, with more than 15,000 tests on a particularly busy day. To meet growing demand, the county added four new testing sites this week and is working on a fifth, according to Sarah Sweeney, communications manager for the Health and Human Services Agency.

In Sacramento, county-run sites only accept walk-in tours, although some places are reaching capacity and must direct people elsewhere, a county spokesperson said.

Going to one of the thousands of pharmacies advertising covid testing is still the first option for many people. Yet these days it can be frustrating.

Patricia Rowan said she had struggled to find a pharmacy with an appointment available for her 67-year-old mother, Karen Liever. Liever had recently been to a conference and wanted to get tested near her home in Palm Bay, Florida, before visiting Rowan, who has young children who cannot be vaccinated.

Rowan finally found a CVS about 25 miles from his mother’s house on Thursday.

In Florida, where covid hospitalizations are higher than ever, state-run mass testing sites closed in late May and Gov. Ron DeSantis said local governments could use their CARES Act funding to restart test operations if they wish. DeSantis, a Republican, spent this week trying to minimize the increase in hospitalizations, saying most admissions were to younger adults and death rates were lower than a year ago. He also blamed the increased number of cases on unvaccinated immigrants illegally crossing the border into Texas and the southwest.

“People obviously have the option to take a test,” DeSantis said Tuesday, the same day that Orlando’s main public testing site closed early – for the 16th day in a row – because it had reached capacity. The governor noted that rapid home tests are available at pharmacies and criticized the effectiveness of past testing campaigns. “Frankly, we spent a lot of money on testing.… I don’t think it did anything to bend the viral curve.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an independent editorial service of the California Health Care Foundation.