Nation’s testing bandwidth is no match for Omicron. «We are definitely lagging in our capacity,» said one expert.
The U.S. was already struggling with and long turnaround times for lab-based tests in recent months, even though the number of COVID-19 infections remained relatively flat or was only slowly inching upward. Now, as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads rapidly, winter weather strikes and families , manufacturers of over-the-counter test kits and labs that process more sensitive polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests, cannot keep pace with demand. These days, the sight of long lines of pedestrians queued up along sidewalks or motorists sitting bumper to bumper in parking lots for hours means one thing: People are waiting for COVID-19 tests. The Biden Administration acknowledged earlier this year that it needed to ramp up the nation’s testing efforts, and pledged to make tests cheaper and more widely available by investing $1 billion to expand the supply of at-home COVID-19 tests. But there as of mid-December. Just ask anyone who has tried to get their hands on an Abbot Labs or Quidel test kit — two popular varieties — in recent days and has struck out at multiple major pharmacies across New York City’s five boroughs and beyond. «The Biden administration has done a lot to make testing more visible, stronger and more available; they shored up the supply chain and put in a lot of money to buy new tests. However, with Omicron it does not seem to be enough,» said Mara Aspinall, a testing expert and professor of biomedical diagnostics at Arizona State University. «The perfect storm is the Omicron variant, the holidays and the winter season with the flu coming as well.» The surge in demand for nearly every variety of COVID-19 test, including lab-based tests, rapid antigen tests administered at the point of care, and at-home testing kits, comes as the Omicron variant again upends how we interact as a society. It has, in recent weeks, sent students and faculty and universities, forced the in New York City and elsewhere, and has delayed major employers’ — again. The swelling number of positive tests in densely populated areas makes exposure to the virus likely, leading more individuals to seek tests as a precautionary measure to ensure they are healthy or, if they are infectious, not to expose others.
