People line up around the block outside the arena. Covid-19 testing at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton. Tuesday, December 28, 2021. Trenton, N.J. Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media
When I needed a coronavirus test after an exposure about ten days before Christmas, it was easy: I went to the CVS down the road and grabbed two boxes, containing three tests total.
It was still that simple two days later, when I threw two more boxes of tests into my shopping cart, alongside a cut of prime rib and some potatoes for mashing, so I could take a rapid test before a family party.
And then, five days before Christmas, when a friend asked where he could find a test, they were gone. In-person appointments, over-the-counter test kits on pharmacy shelves — all just gone.
The story was the same for thousands of other New Jersey residents who were trying to find a rapid test after Christmas, either after having been exposed or as a screening tool. Across the state, residents complained about overly long lines, empty shelves, and even took to Facebook groups to buy over-the-counter tests from each other. Meanwhile, some counties and towns were scrambling to increase testing capacities with additional hours and locations.
This rush on testing could have been anticipated, two public health experts told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. Or, as Dr. Stephanie Silvera, a professor of public health at Montclair State University, put it: “rapid tests are the new toilet paper.”
Pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens are even putting limits on how many tests you can buy — if you can find them.
Some of the rapid test shortages can be chalked up to basic supply and demand. Tests are flying off the shelves in the Garden State, but other states — like Florida — are able to make them readily available at county library events.
Demand for testing in New Jersey hit an all-time high on Dec. 22, when more than 100,000 tests were administered. Daily new cases have skyrocketed as well, topping 15,000 cases reported in a single day for the first time ever last week. (Cases were likely higher during the start of the pandemic, but it was nearly impossible to find a test at that point, Silvera noted.)
But it’s not just that more tests catch more cases. There was a 21% positivity rate for all tests administered on Dec. 23, the most recent day data was available. The last time it was that high? May 2, 2020.
But some usages of the rapid tests go above and beyond what should be happening, public health experts say.
Not only are people testing in response to symptoms or to sniff-out infections before seeing high-risk individuals, but tests are now being used as a way to justify risky behavior — and that’s not what the system is designed for, Dr. Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, told NJ Advance Media.
“They’re using the testing to legitimize their bad behavior, and that’s the biggest problem on the system,” Halkitis said.
What about my Christmas morning at-home rapid? Was that a fair use of a test?
Yes, Halkitis said, particularly if there were going to be older or higher-risk people at Christmas dinner (there were). But if I had taken the test just to go clubbing? No, that wouldn’t have been the best use within the system as it’s designed, he said.
But with the arrival of the omicron variant and colder weather, even well-meaning fully vaccinated people want to take precautions as scientists learn new information about the transmission of the omicron variant.
“I think on an individual level if somebody is vaccinated and boosted, they should be showing a healthy level of concern,” Silvera said.
It’s a different story for unvaccinated people.
“If you are not vaccinated right now, you should be very anxious,” Halkitis said. As of Dec. 6, only 1.16% of vaccinated residents — 68,913 people — experienced a breakthrough case this year, the state reported. And even fewer, 1,513 people, had to be hospitalized.
Given the difficulty in finding at-home tests, or the lack of affordability for some, government-run sites began to see long waits before Christmas, a trend that only continues into this week. At CURE Arena in Trenton, the line was cut off at 2 p.m. on Monday after the site reached capacity and ran out of time and counties around the state are racing to open more centers.
Unlike in previous waves when PCR tests were most easily found, testing sites are now able to quickly switch gears to match the type of tests each community wants, Shawn Baxley, vice president of field operations for Vault Health, told NJ Advance Media. Most sites have seen high demand for rapid tests, while the Somerset County location that opened on Tuesday was the first site to want more PCR testing.
Despite that flexibility, there are still multi-hour lines to get tested and those waits can be difficult, if not impossible, for older or disabled people. Although the CURE arena is wheelchair accessible, those who are not physically able to wait in line should utilize another site or request a free at-home test, Julie Willmot, the Mercer County spokeswoman, said. But while CURE Arena is offering rapid tests, the at-home tests are only PCR.
People line up around the block outside the arena. Covid-19 testing at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton. Tuesday, December 28, 2021. Trenton, N.J. Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media
People line up around the block outside the arena. Covid-19 testing at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton. Tuesday, December 28, 2021. Trenton, N.J. Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media
A woman gives a saliva sample for a saliva PCR test. Covid-19 testing at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton. Tuesday, December 28, 2021. Trenton, N.J. Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media
Long lines are also not an option for many lower-income residents, who may not be able to leave work during the day, Silvera said.
So you can’t find a rapid test in stores, and you don’t have the time to wait in a long line. What can you do?
New Jersey residents can order at-home PCR tests that will be overnighted to them and can be shipped back to the Vault lab through UPS. The state was one of the first to offer it, along with Washington and New Hampshire.
The mail-order test system is not perfect: tests must be taken on a Zoom video call between certain times, must be brought to a UPS store or drop box, and the total time from requesting a test to getting results can take several days, particularly if you’re trying to test over the weekend.
A similar mail-delivery system for rapid tests would likely be more useful for reducing transmission and using testing as a screening tool, Silvera said. (The rapid tests Vault uses on-site must be administered by a physician, so they can’t be mailed home, Baxley said.)
Testing is an important tool in fighting the coronavirus. But if you’re worried enough to want to rapid test constantly, just stay home, Halkitis said.
“People want to excuse it, to do what they want, to party, to go on their vacation — stop. Take a break. If you’re that panicked, if you’re that worried about COVID and about getting infected, then the best solution to that is to ... stay isolated in your home,” Halkitis said.
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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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