Shortage in COVID tests leads Mecklenburg residents to ‘overwhelmed’ ERs, urgent care
Shortages in COVID-19 tests are straining emergency medical resources in Mecklenburg County, health experts said Thursday.
The “unprecedented” demand for coronavirus tests comes as Mecklenburg sees a spike in COVID metrics, including total cases and positivity rate, incoming Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington said.
On Thursday, North Carolina recorded its highest daily number ever of COVID cases, adding more than 18,500 new cases to its tally.
Some people have turned to emergency departments for COVID tests, even without any COVID symptoms, Novant Health chief clinical officer Dr. Sid Fletcher told reporters Thursday.
And urgent cares have been “overwhelmed,” he said.
People shouldn’t go to emergency departments for coronavirus tests without severe symptoms, Fletcher said.
Instead, asymptomatic people should look for other testing locations or at-home tests.
“If you can’t get tested, if you have symptoms — stay home,” outgoing Mecklenburg health director Gibbie Harris said. “You don’t need to be going to school. You don’t need to go to work. You don’t need to be going into the emergency department, unless you have just a significant serious illness.”
Service providers strained
For one test provider, StarMed Healthcare, Christmas week marked the company’s highest ever volume of COVID tests, with close to 19,000 tests performed, StarMed CEO Michael Estramonte said on Twitter Monday.
And county ambulance agency Medic is also experiencing strain amid the shortage in tests and spike in COVID-19, Washington said Thursday.
So Washington asked Mecklenburg residents to only call 911 for emergencies.
Testing shortage
Due to the high demand for COVID tests, at-home tests are no longer available Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library sites as of Thursday.
But the county hopes to get an additional shipment of COVID tests to relaunch that program sometime next week, Washington said.
COVID infections confirmed through at-home tests are not reported through state Department of Health and Human Services statistics. So there are could be more infections in the community than health experts are aware of.
But the community has such a limited supply of at-home tests at the moment, Washington said. So the vast majority of COVID tests performed in Mecklenburg are performed at testing sites.
Omicron, the latest variant of COVID, typically presents with less severe symptoms than other COVID variants, health experts said. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous, particularly for at-risk patients, Fletcher said.
“It seems to be less serious in general. But that doesn’t mean any one individual might not have a significant problem, end up hospitalized in the ICU or have a death as a result,” he said.
New Year’s Eve warnings
Mecklenburg County health experts also cautioned residents to reconsider New Year’s Eve plans.
“I know that we’re all tired of this,” Atrium Health chief medical officer Dr. Jim Hunter said. “We’re tired of COVID. We’re tired of masking. we’re tired of changing plans and canceling holidays.”
Mecklenburg residents should plan for smaller gatherings with immediate family instead of celebrations with large groups, Fletcher said. And keeping those gatherings outside will help limit COVID exposure, he said.
And people should be “very thoughtful” about how they celebrate New Year’s Eve, Harris said.
“This is the holiday weekend where people have a tendency to come together and as midnight hits, they have a tendency to hug and kiss, and do all of those sorts of things to ring in the new year,” she said. “Well, this is not the year to do that.
“This is a year to to have a bit more caution so that in future years we’re all still around to celebrate with each other,” she said.
Beyond that, Mecklenburg’s top health officials and doctors want to make sure all residents are doing their part to cut down COVID spread.
“We have the tools to do what we need to do to protect our community, to protect ourselves, to protect those we love and to keep things from getting worse,” Harris said. That means get vaccinated, get the COVID booster dose, continue masking and follow social distancing guidelines, she said.
“These are the things that we know are going to protect our community,” Harris said, “and help us keep this virus ravaging our community and overloading our healthcare systems.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Shortage in COVID tests leads Mecklenburg residents to ‘overwhelmed’ ERs, urgent care."
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