‘Excruciatingly long’ lines for COVID tests in Charlotte. Here’s what’s driving the wait
Mecklenburg County residents have reported long waits and “excruciatingly long” lines for COVID-19 tests this week.
COVID-19 tests have been on the rise for weeks locally. That trend has continued, likely prompted by people getting tests after traveling during Labor Day weekend or attending holiday gatherings, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris told the Observer Wednesday.
Across Mecklenburg, the average number of daily COVID-19 tests has increased by nearly 125% in the last three months.
And StarMed Healthcare, which has partnered with the county on administering COVID-19 vaccinations, has seen “excruciatingly long” lines at its testing sites in recent weeks, StarMed said in an email.
The healthcare office addressed the long lines in a tweet on Tuesday, sharing a screenshot of a message about the wait times.
“We really have our hands full,” the message read. “The volume of people we’re testing has skyrocketed. All of the healthcare organizations are doing the best we can. We’re all stretched incredibly thin.
“…If only our vaccine lines were this long,” the message added.
Still, StarMed saw a slight decrease in testing early this week — although the organization said numbers could increase later in the week.
In early July, StarMed Healthcare was administering about 1,000 tests weekly in Mecklenburg County, StarMed said. In the last week of August, the organization administered nearly 6,500 tests in Mecklenburg County.
Some testing sites are more popular than others, Harris told the Observer. She suggests looking around at a number of different testing different sites to find one without the long wait.
Most COVID-19 tests available in Mecklenburg County are available at no cost to the patient.
A ‘steady rise’ in testing
Novant Health has also seen an additional uptick in COVID-19 tests at its facilities, spokeswoman Megan Rivers told the Observer in an email. Testing numbers have been a “steady rise,” she said.
CVS Health, which offers COVID-19 tests by appointment, did not share local testing numbers.
But nationally, CVS Health has administered more than 6 million COVID-19 tests in the second quarter of the year, April through June, spokeswoman Tara Burke told the Observer in an email.
And testing has risen since then. Current daily COVID-19 testing has been “significantly ahead” of the average daily volume in the second quarter, Burke said.
And at-home COVID-19 test kits are the top-selling item in CVS stores, she added.
Other COVID-19 trends
For the first time in nine weeks, Mecklenburg County did not report an increase in the average number of daily new COVID-19 cases or in the average testing positivity rate in new data released last Friday. Both of those trends started to decrease, county data showed.
But Harris said that doesn’t necessarily mean things are getting better, or that the downward trend will continue.
She expects to see another increase in cases over the next two weeks, as COVID-19 trends begin to reflect the impact of Labor Day weekend travel and gatherings along with the impact of crowded events like Duke’s Mayo Classic last weekend.
And there are more holidays coming up. Plus, the spread of COVID-19 could increase as weather turns colder in Charlotte.Viruses tend to like cold weather, she said.
On top of that, students have returned to K-12 schools along with colleges and universities, she said.
“We just need to be smart about this,” Harris said.
That means getting vaccinated and wearing a mask indoors, and even outdoors in crowds, she said.
“The answer to all of this is vaccinations,” Harris said.
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