Indianapolis, Indiana – With the exponential rise of new Omicron cases across America, Americans are facing two struggles, at-home Covid-19 rapid kits shortage and long waiting Covid-19 testing lines.
And this is not only happening in one or two states, but the problem is present in almost every single state lately. So is the case in Indiana where people are really frustrated when they have to wait a lot just to get tested.
People that were waiting in the long lines on Monday say that the wait time at some testing sites is more than two hours, something that hasn’t been seen in a whole year. The workers at the testing sites confirmed just that, the current requests for testing haven’t been seen in more than a year.
“It’s just concerning that with this new variant if people can’t get tested, I’m not sure how we’re going to get our arms around this,” said Sarah Millspaugh, who was trying to get tested at the Marion County Health Department.
She waited for nearly four hours after being turned away from a testing site in Lawrence.
“We waited and waited … there was a sign saying they were doing testing with a phone number, but no one picked that up, it just hung up on you,” said Millspaugh.
“We’ve done over 300 cars. We started this morning with the surge of the Indianapolis Fire Department,” said Virgil Madden, a Director at the Marion County Public Health Department.
According to Madden, despite the major number of people waiting in the line for hours, handling the demand doesn’t seem to the real issue.
“The Marion County Health Department goes out of its way to serve, and we just ask all the people coming to be patient,” said Madden.
At another testing site just across the street, even more people were waiting in the line for hours to get tested.
“I have been waiting for two and a half hours. It’s very frustrating,” said Derrick Carter.
“I kind of figured that it would take a while. So, I’m just trying to be patient and I’m sure they’re doing their best,” said Rachelle Wood, who was also in the IMS testing line.
The health department asks that you please register online to help speed the testing process.
For more information about the IMS testing site, click here.
