[ad_1]
Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles was the largest COVID-19 testing site in the United States, with the potential to test more than 10,000 people each day. But two weeks after January, amid a chaotic and slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, the city closed the site in order to convert it into a vaccination site. The city has also closed another testing site, temporarily reducing government-run COVID-19 testing capacity by a third.
It’s a model that’s being played out across the country, in states like Florida, Nevada, and Illinois. Health services are working with limited resources to fight COVID-19, and many have had to make a choice: to continue testing at the same level or to focus on immunization. “We remain very concerned that there are only a few resources to allocate,” says Lori Tremmel Freeman, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
Even before vaccines were available, health services struggled to stay on top of testing and contact tracing. “This was before the vaccine was introduced, and it’s another very complex and layered response,” Freeman says.
Collier County, Florida has closed all but one testing sites so health officials can focus on immunization. In November, there were four. Staffing was the main issue, says Department of Health spokeswoman Kristine Hollingsworth. “There are only a limited number of staff who can do tests and vaccinations,” she says. The department now offers testing one or two days a week. “There is still a need for testing, and we are getting questions about it,” Hollingsworth says. “Fortunately, at least in our county there are other clinics and emergency care centers that are doing testing.”
Across the state, the city of Jacksonville converted two testing sites to vaccination sites. Fort Lauderdale converted a site, which could handle around 1,000 COVID-19 tests per day. In Illinois, officials shut down the DuPage County Fairgrounds testing site outside of Chicago so the Department of Health can channel support for vaccines.
And in Clark County, Nevada, officials reduced one of the major testing sites to three days a week before shutting down. This site performed between 600 and 1,000 tests per day, says Fermin Leguen, health officer for the Southern Nevada District. “The reason is that we don’t have the resources to open a mass vaccination site,” he said. The edge. “It is a big challenge for any health service to be able to accomplish both at the same time at a high level.”
Leguen says he hopes Clark County will be able to reopen the closed test site at some point. “We call it a temporary decision, but it depends on our ability to recruit more staff so that we can continue to offer the same level of testing.”
Pharmacies and health centers are also offering COVID-19 testing across the country, so health departments aren’t cutting all testing when they switch to vaccines. The sites run by the department, however, are streamlined exclusively for COVID-19 testing and can process hundreds or thousands a day.
The relief bill passed by Congress in December provided more than $ 8 billion for vaccine distribution, and this funding could help local health departments step up efforts to immunize people. “Maybe we can convert testing centers into testing and vaccination sites,” says Freeman. Test sites are functioning well in many areas, and departments could expand the infrastructure that already exists. A drive-thru testing center, for example, could add lanes for vaccination without completely stopping testing. “We are not reinventing the wheel, we are taking advantage of what has already been done,” she says.
Additional funding is welcome, but comes too late for health officials trying to jump-start their immunization programs using their existing budgets. “These resources were needed six months ago to help put the systems in place,” says Freeman. “We’re just trying to catch up here.”
So far, in many departments, that has meant letting testing slide down the priority list. Testing is still essential to help identify people who may be transmitting the virus, says Leguen. But weighing the two, the ministry believes that vaccination has a higher value for the community. “I will give preference to vaccination because we want to protect as many people as possible,” he says. “The earliest would be best.”
[ad_2]
Source link