Search for a COVID-19 test means sold-out signs, long lines

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NEW YORK – President Joe Biden promised to administer hundreds of millions of escaped COVID-19 tests and to unfastened much investigating sites to combat surging infections, but the stepped-up efforts volition not travel successful clip for radical who privation to find retired if they are infected earlier the holidays.

Americans person been searching drugstores for scarce location tests oregon waiting hours successful chilly temperatures astatine investigating facilities crossed the country.

“Not everyone tin instrumentality 3 hours disconnected enactment to get tested, but it feels similar it’s the lone happening we person the powerfulness to do,” said Jordan Thomas, who waited astir 4 hours for a trial this week successful the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

In Atlanta, drugstores ran retired of location tests, and constabulary unopen down investigating sites arsenic postulation backed up a half-mile oregon more. A drive-thru investigating tract successful Columbia, South Carolina, that for months had quicker lines than immoderate adjacent Chick-fil-A restaurants had waits of an hr oregon much days earlier Christmas. Workers warned that results could instrumentality longer than the emblematic 24 to 36 hours.

Fueling the surging request for tests is simply a premix of factors, including families seeking to support vacation gatherings harmless and radical needing to beryllium they are virus-free for travel, enactment oregon school. Adding to the unit is the extra-contagious omicron variant, which has a multiplying effect connected the fig of radical seeking tests aft being exposed to an infected person.

In the United States, infections mean astir 149,000 a day, up from 75,000 a time astatine the commencement of November.

“The emergence successful infections is beauteous dramatic,” said Gigi Gronvall, a elder student astatine the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has tracked COVID-19 investigating efforts during the pandemic.

Testing tin assistance guarantee information astatine gatherings, adjacent if radical bash not person symptoms and were not exposed to the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Take a trial earlier you gather,” the agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said this week arsenic omicron led to spiking cases up of the holidays.

But efforts to travel that guidance and to conscionable the requirements of immoderate employers and schools person strained investigating capableness successful galore places.

Detjon Bushgjokaj was among hundreds of radical seeking a trial successful Everett, Massachusetts, conscionable northbound of Boston. He waited astir 90 minutes aft his 6-year-old daughter, who has not been vaccinated yet, tested affirmative aft falling sick with a fever.

“As soon arsenic my woman called, I near enactment and came close here. I enactment with a batch of radical and successful antithetic places truthful I needed to marque sure,” said Bushgjokaj, who is vaccinated. He said his daughter’s unwellness has added uncertainty to their vacation break.

In New York City, drugstores posted signs alerting customers that they sold retired of tests. Lines wrapped astir blocks astatine immoderate investigating sites, with immoderate saying results could instrumentality 3 to 4 days.

For next-day results, 1 tract listed a terms of $150. For results successful 2 hours, the terms was $389.

Though the exertion to process PCR laboratory tests takes little than a day, investigating sites and labs look staffing struggles similar galore different businesses, said Mara Aspinall, who teaches biomedical diagnostics astatine Arizona State University and is connected the committee of OraSure, a COVID-19 trial maker.

Manufacturers are moving to summation supplies. Abbott said it's seeing “unprecedented demand" for its fashionable BinaxNOW tests and that it plans to grow accumulation to 70 cardinal tests successful January, up from much than 50 cardinal this month. The institution said it tin further boost accumulation successful coming months.

In the meantime, Walgreens said it’s limiting radical to 4 boxes per acquisition successful stores and online. CVS said it’s limiting radical to six kits per purchase.

In New York City, officials planned to manus retired accelerated location tests to radical facing agelong waits astatine investigating sites to assistance easiness demand. But the metropolis is having occupation securing the tests arsenic well.

Biden announced Tuesday that the national authorities would for the archetypal clip commencement mailing 500 cardinal escaped accelerated tests straight to Americans successful January. Details person not yet been released, but officials accidental radical volition beryllium capable to usage a caller website to bid their tests, which volition beryllium mailed to them astatine nary charge.

The authorities volition usage the Defense Production Act to assistance manufacture much tests. New national investigating sites volition besides beryllium acceptable up, starting this week successful New York.

The changes travel aft nationalist wellness experts for months urged U.S. officials to marque investigating much accessible, pointing to countries specified arsenic the United Kingdom and Germany, which person distributed billions of tests to the nationalist and recommended radical trial themselves doubly a week.

Experts accidental the latest efforts inactive volition not beryllium capable for each Americans to trial astatine that rate. The U.S. would request 2.3 cardinal tests per period for everyone 12 and older to bash that, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

The availability of tests varies astir the country.

At a city-run children’s time campy successful Fort Collins, Colorado, boxes of accelerated tests were disposable for escaped this week. Staffers told parents to instrumentality arsenic galore arsenic they needed.

Still, request for investigating is lone acceptable to summation aft the holidays, erstwhile radical volition privation to cognize if their travels and gatherings resulted successful infections, noted Dr. Marcus Plescia, main aesculapian serviceman for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

And precocious request volition apt to persist acold into 2022 arsenic radical look to resume the activities they gave up during the pandemic, Aspinall said.

“The pandemic fatigue has moved into, ‘I privation to bash what I want, erstwhile I want.’ And tests supply that cognition and power,” she said.

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Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone successful Washington, Philip Marcelo successful Boston, Mike Sisak successful New York and Mead Gruver successful Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives enactment from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely liable for each content.

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