(WXYZ) — The search for COVID tests has become frantic for metro Detroit. More people are getting tested. More are testing positive, 4 out of 10. These are both at an all-time high since the start of the pandemic.
People are being shut out trying to book appointments online for the same day or the next day. People are being turned away at some sites. Home test kits are sold out.
“I would say it is probably as bad or worse than the initial part of the pandemic, but we didn't have the lack of staffing at the time,” says Bernice Sessa Medical Director of Beaumont Urgent Care by Wellstreet.
Beaumont has urgent care centers throughout metro Detroit. They say they take walk-ins. But that’s not necessarily the case.
“I've heard in some clinics at 530 in the morning the lines are starting outside the building,” Sessa says.
Some of the Beaumont sites tell people to come in at 7 am and they’ll give them an appointment for that day.
“We have so much staff and providers and we have patients that are coming in that don't have symptoms, we're only capable to see so many people,” Sessa tells 7 Action News.
She also says supplies are a problem adding, “short on supplies, however, we have been finding still to keep up, We can test every patient.”
In Detroit, they are expanding testing. The city and the Detroit Public Schools Community District are both offering daily testing.
Detroit Public Health Officer Denise Fair Razo tells 7 Action News, “we're seeing about 5000 people testing every single day across the city of Detroit. And of those 5000 about 40% are testing positive. These are numbers that we have never seen at all in the last two years of this pandemic.”
Detroit does not have a shortage of supplies or staff.
People who live and work in Detroit can get testing daily from 7 am to 4:30 pm at:
Joseph Walker Williams Center
8431 Rosa Parks
Appointments preferred
313-230-0505