Some states will shut mass coronavirus testing websites within the coming weeks, as many did earlier than the current Omicron surge, regardless of issues amongst some public well being consultants that the US could also be unprepared for a brand new wave of circumstances.
The closures arrive only some months after Individuals have been compelled to attend hours in lengthy strains without cost exams or to pay for testing. New Hampshire closed all state-run websites on Tuesday. Massachusetts can have closed a majority by April 1. South Carolina has been regularly closing them this month; Utah has been doing so since February.
State well being departments have cited sharp drops in demand for testing as a important issue of their selections, in addition to a big enchancment within the availability of at-home fast exams and declines in every day circumstances and hospitalizations, which have been recorded in almost each state.
Many states have shifted testing efforts again to conventional well being care suppliers, like hospitals and pharmacies.However some public well being consultants say that closing mass testing websites with out taking different steps to handle potential gaps in virus surveillance and testing entry, particularly whereas different mitigation measures like masks mandates are dropped, might go away the nation scrambling within the face of one other potential surge.
Testing websites present well being officers with information to anticipate new surges and variants in a means that at-home fast exams can not. (Although a important device in preventing the pandemic, at-home outcomes aren’t at all times reported to official authorities.)
As soon as a brand new surge or variant arrives and begins driving up testing demand, no rush to reopen mass testing websites, regardless of how expedited, could make up for the misplaced time, mentioned Cassandra Pierre, the medical director of public well being packages at Boston Medical Heart.
As an example, Colorado well being officers have mentioned they might reopen mass testing websites inside 4 to 5 weeks. In that point, Dr. Pierre mentioned, the height of a surge could have already handed and left hospitals overwhelmed with severely in poor health sufferers.
Even reopening testing websites in as little as one to 2 weeks wouldn’t be ample, Dr. Pierre mentioned.
Closing state-run websites additionally requires native hospitals, pharmacies and community-based teams to soak up the extra demand. These which are already straining to serve populations most in want might not be ready to take action, Dr. Pierre mentioned.
Nonetheless, state well being departments have been below unsustainable pressure. Federal funding is dwindling, and extra money might not be coming. Workers shortages and dying threats have grow to be commonplace.
The testing website closures could have been inevitable given the large stressors on the general public well being work pressure, mentioned Gigi Gronvall, a testing skilled at Johns Hopkins College.
There are constructive indicators. Non-public suppliers are higher ready than they beforehand have been, Dr. Gronvall mentioned, and elevated immunity within the common inhabitants and the widespread availability of fast exams will assist.
She added that the websites aren’t the one means for well being departments to watch or handle a possible surge. However the query stays: What occurs if the virus takes a flip for the more serious? Or if a variant emerges for which current vaccines aren’t protecting?
“You don’t need to fearmonger, however that is a part of planning,” Dr. Gronvall mentioned. “That is the form of factor that public well being departments must be fascinated about.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/20/us/some-states-in-the-us-are-closing-virus-testing-sites-despite-fears-of-a-new-surge.html
