The rapid surge of Omicron is leading to a severe shortage of Covid test kits across the country. Texas, one of the most affected states, is facing an acute shortage of Covid at-home test kits. Several outlets that used to sell these kits have run out of stock, and Texans have to wait in long queues to get themselves tested.
Texas Running Out Of Covid Test Kits Due To Omicron Surge
Several pharmacy chains have run out of stock, and they are asking patients to return after a few days. In dedicated centers that conduct the covid test, the waiting time is more than a few hours. According to local television reports, the waiting time was more than three hours at the local testing facilities in Texas last week.
During the previous peak, Texas reported over 20000 daily cases. However, the Omicron wave has surged at a huge pace, surprising many health experts across the country. On Friday, Texas recorded more than 50000 cases, and healthcare professionals find it challenging to arrange for covid testing.
The Biden administration has faced criticism in this regard as they are not able to provide adequate testing kits to the affected regions. Taking this into consideration, the federal government recently announced that they would send about 500 million covid test kits to the affected states. The government agencies even made a formal announcement about the contract with Goldbelt Security for providing at-home covid test kits.
In San Antonio, the positivity rate, which was at a low of 2 percent has now reached over 27 percent. The mega testing sites in this region can test few thousand people daily. Even Houston is dealing with similar problems, and authorities have managed to test over 30000 people daily at the mega testing sites.
The newly added test facilities provide some relief to the overburdened health system in these regions. Experts from other regions are brought in to handle the mega testing sites, and such facilities have so far tested thousands of people every day.
Some patients had to wait long to get the test done on Friday. Many of them were seen moving from one facility to another, hoping to find a suitable slot for the covid test. One of the parents at the testing site said that she had come to get the test done for her kids as the school did not accept at-home test results, and they wanted a PCR test report.
Yet another complaint from patients is that the time taken to get the test results is over 48 hours in many cases. Due to this reason, many people are forced to go for expensive rapid antigen tests.
One of the large testing labs in Dallas said that they are planning to hire a new team of experts to manage the large number of patients coming for covid tests. Due to the overwhelming crowd, the test results are taking a lot of time, which has caused a lot of inconvenience to the patients. Not only that, even the wait time at most facilities is over a few hours, and the situation is not likely to improve in the next few weeks.
Health experts are worried that the sudden surge of Omicron within a matter of few weeks has put a lot of burden on the health care system. Most researchers believe that the wave is nowhere near the peak, and it may take a few more weeks to reach that stage. The US is already close to logging more than a million cases every week, and there is a need for rampant testing to bring the situation under control.
