Patience encouraged amid stretched supplies of rapid COVID tests
News // Health
Ellysa Harris, Plainview Herald
Jan. 6, 2022 Updated: Jan. 6, 2022 6:01 p.m.
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The latest surge of COVID-19 cases has health officials across the country contending with an increased demand for testing and a shortage of rapid-result supplies.
Director of business operations Homer Marquez said Covenant Health Plainview felt some of the effects of this earlier this week.
For the first time since testing for COVID-19 became widely available to the public, the hospital was notified Monday afternoon that it would have to wait 30 days before placing another order for its next shipment of rapid-test supplies. The hospital has since been cleared by its supplier to order as usual again.
It was never a concern that the hospital and its local affiliated clinics would run out of testing supplies, he clarified. Covenant Health Plainview still had/has a healthy stock of available PCR tests, the results of which take an extra day or so to process since those tests are run through a lab, Marquez said. It's the rapid tests that are in short supply.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory to laboratories back in September 2021 noting what was described as a "temporary" shortage of rapid tests and encouraging use of lab-based testing.
Those resources have been stretched for Covenant Health Plainview but not to the point reached Monday. Covenant Health Plainview clinics have been conducting frequent testing, Marquez said, adding that the Covenant Health West Texas Family Medicine clinics have been averaging about 60 to 70 tests per day. Covenant's other affiliated local clinics were averaging 30 to 40 tests per day.
It's a problem even for the bigger health chains. CVS Health officials also told The Herald its stores offer a variety of five over-the-counter at-home tests.
"To ensure equitable access to tests both in store and digitally, we've added a limit of six test kits per purchase. Due to a recent surge in demand, and to retain community-based access to tests in our stores, there may be temporary out-of-stocks for these products on CVS.com," reads an email from CVS Health to The Herald.
It's hard to pinpoint why exactly there's such a great demand for tests right now. Marquez attributes at least part of it to the rapidly-spreading Omicron COVID variant.
According to the CDC, the Omicron variant was identified in November and the first confirmed case in the United States was reported Dec. 1. By December 25, it was noted to be the most common variant. The first cases of Omicron were confirmed in Lubbock last week, though those individuals were tested in mid-December.
If it's there, it's probably here (in Plainview), Marquez noted.
This virus variant is expected to spread more easily regardless of vaccination status and whether symptoms are evident, according to the CDC.
With people trying to get back to normal schedules after a holiday break full of shopping and gatherings, Marquez suspects more people are trying to get a medical green light to return to work.
Rapid tests have their benefits, he noted, because they don't bog down the labs and you get results in a much quicker turnaround.
He emphasized that the hospital and its clinics have a healthy supply of laboratory test kits to meet the community's needs. The downside is it takes a few extra days to learn the results.
The labs are processing results from several different testing sites, he explained. Pair that with the increasing demand for tests and the current medical staffing shortages – not just at local medical facilities but across the country in general – and it creates a recipe for slower processing of results.
Marquez said he knows there's a desire for quick results but urges people to be patient.
Ellysa Harris
Ellysa Harris is the editor for the Plainview Herald.