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Spike in COVID-19 cases, holiday season results in increased demand for testing
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ADDIS - Navigating through cold and flu season and with the holidays quickly approaching, more and more people are rushing to get tested for COVID-19.
A recent spike in cases is keeping clinics busy. Before the spike, officials say they were testing between 6-15 people per day. On Tuesday at the Ochsner site in Baker, 60 people were tested for the virus.
I think it was bc everyone kind of got comfortable and now flu season is coming around, people are starting to get their normal colds, they want to make sure," testing site coordinator Sonja Ahlf said.
Besides the resurgence in cases, these past few weeks, in particular, have been a catalyst for people wanting to be tested.
It's that time of year, the normal flu, you're getting your sinuses, you're getting your allergies, you're getting colds, it's picking up. We also have holidays coming up people want to be around their family, so for precautionary reasons people are going to get tested," Ahlf said.
However, those looking to get results back by Thanksgiving are out of luck since these test results take a minimum of 48 hours.
Testing continues at 9 a.m. on Wednesday at BREC Park off of Jefferson Hwy and will last through 3 p.m. It will not pick up again until after the Thanksgiving holiday on Saturday.
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