CLEVELAND — Health care professionals are encouraging people to get vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 before the holidays.
With cases reaching record highs since the start of the pandemic and with many people eagerly planning safe family gatherings, COVID-19 testing kits are flying off of shelves.
Supply is low and demand is high everywhere, including at the libraries that have been handing them out for free.
The drive-up window at the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library has been busy lately with people searching for free at-home COVID-19 tests ahead of the holidays. Currently all branches are out of stock and it’s not clear when the next shipment will be in.
The @CuyahogaLib has been busy lately with a lot more than just books! Since the spring, @OHdeptofhealth has been giving branches free at-home COVID tests to distribute. Yesterday more than 700 kits were gone in 1.5 hours! Stock is currently out at all branches. @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/oMY2LHwCA0
— Micaela Marshall (@MMarshallTV) December 22, 2021
Between her typical library duties like placing books on hold, branch services clerk Caroline Liberatore is fielding calls about COVID-19 tests.
That’s been the reality for her and her co-workers at all Cuyahoga County Public Library branches for months now.
“It feels as if every time we get a new shipment, it just gets more and more crazy,” she said.
The number of people seeking COVID-19 tests is really ramping up ahead of Christmas.
“There was a line of cars that started here and went around the whole front of the branch through the other parking lot and out into the street. So that was how many people we had waiting. We had received about 750 kits and handed out all of them within an hour and a half,” she explained while describing Tuesday, Dec. 21, when the most recent shipment came in.
Line of cars through the parking lot. (Courtesy: Cuyahoga County Public Library)
Since the spring, the Ohio Department of Health has been sending thousands of testing kits to libraries across the state to then be distributed to the public for free.
Each week, the Cuyahoga County Public Library requests another shipment and tends to receive more every seven to 10 days.
There is an automated message on the library’s phone line that is frequently updated with whether COVID-19 testing kits are available.
“We have people who call each day just waiting to see or multiple times a day to see if they’ve come,” she said.
With record-high COVID-19 case numbers in the county and family gatherings around the corner, ’tis the season to get tested.
But those tests are hard to come by.
“It kind of scares me,” said Parma resident Alexis Moldovan, who came to the library looking for a COVID-19 test Wednesday. “It really does. It just means that the virus is spreading a lot faster and a lot more people are getting sick and it worries me.”
With demand so high, some limits have to be set.
“I’ve had people ask for 50. I’ve had people ask for maybe 100. It’s like, sorry, I can give you these 10,” said Liberatore.
While it’s not quite the job Liberatore signed up for, she’s happy to do what she can to meet the needs of the community.
“We’re one of the few places that hand them out for free and just like how much relief is in their eyes and how it relieves a lot of the stress. You know, if they have a large family it’s really expensive to either pay for the test kits or try to find appointments for everyone and so that definitely makes it worth it and just reminds me that what we’re doing is really worthwhile,” she said.
Spectrum News reached out to pharmacies, including Walgreens and CVS Health, to ask about the supply of COVID-19 testing kits there.
Walgreens released this statement:
“As the nation experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases coinciding with the holidays, we are seeing unprecedented demand for testing services. Availability for COVID-19 testing appointments fluctuates daily, and is limited in many areas of the country leading up to the holidays. We anticipate appointment availability will continue to rapidly evolve and encourage customers to visit Walgreens.com/Covid19Testing to determine availability and schedule their appointment.
Additionally, we have been working closely with our lab partners to expand testing capacity while minimizing turnaround times for test results. We anticipate 24 to 48 hour turnaround time for COVID-19 test results.
Due to the incredible demand for at-home rapid testing, we put in effect a four item purchase limit on at-home COVID-19 testing products in our stores and digital properties in an effort to help improve inventory while we continue to work diligently with our supplier partners to best meet customer demands. We refer you to manufacturers for questions on supply of individual products.”
CVS Health told Spectrum News:
“We continue to work around the clock to provide our stores with inventory of the five over-the-counter at-home COVID-19 tests we offer: Abbott BinaxNOW, Acon FlowFlex, Quidel Quickvue, Ellume, and Pixel by LabCorp. 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. We’re committed to providing families with protection and peace of mind during the holiday season, and we continue to offer access to lab-based testing with results available in 1-2 days or rapid COVID-19 testing at more than 4,800 CVS Pharmacy locations.”
