COVID test demand in Pierce County soars as sites overrun following holidays
Story has been updated with Monday’s test site totals.
The repeated warnings from health officials about another COVID surge with higher case volumes have come to pass, with overflowing testing sites and crowded emergency rooms extending past the holidays in Pierce County.
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health told The News Tribune that it had 218 COVID-19 patients across the VMFH system on Monday, compared with 142 COVID patients the same date a year ago. The system implored patients not to show up at hospitals seeking “routine, asymptomatic or travel testing,” and to instead go to other testing sites.
MultiCare told The News Tribune it has 241 COVID patients across its Puget Sound area hospitals.
An additional county COVID testing site to ease crowding was itself overwhelmed Monday with demand, becoming one of two sites to close early in order to process the ones on site before 3 p.m.
On Monday, Pierce County Department of Emergency Management posted on social media that as of 10:27 a.m., the Lakewood testing site was full, ahead of its 10:30 a.m. opening, and recommended people go to other testing venues.
That same drive-thru site has had to cut off accepting new vehicles after 4 p.m. with repeat high volumes of turnout. On Monday, the cut-off happened by 2:45 p.m., according to announcements posted online.
Test seekers at the county’s new temporary COVID-19 testing site on the Gold Lot of the Washington State Fairgrounds faced multiple-hour waits by midafternoon Monday.
Attendees took to social media to describe the long wait times, reminiscent of the county’s first mass COVID vaccine clinics a year ago.
“it’s taken us two and a half hours to get from Meridian by the blue gate into the testing parking lot. ... The lady guiding cars said it will be another hour or two from where we are now,” wrote one person.
“I’ve been here since 12. It’s more than a 3 hour wait,” wrote another attendee after 3 p.m.
The Puyallup Police Department later tweeted that the site was shut down after 3 p.m. due to being full.
“The testing site will reopen on Tuesday. Thank you for your patience and grace today,” it added.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reported 836 tests were administered at Cheney Stadium and 552 in Bonney Lake on Monday. The county saw 1,543 tests administered at the fairgrounds and 859 at the Lakewood site.
Meanwhile, some were taking to social media in search of home tests.
“I’ll pay $100,” posted an individual on a Gig Harbor community Facebook page seeking an at-home test.
News of local pharmacies with a sudden restocked supply became instantly outdated and updated with word of selling out.
The nation’s COVID-19 testing shortage, which took off during the Delta surge, snowballed into a full-blown supply meltdown over the holidays as people were left clamoring for tests before gathering, or searching afterward to check for exposure, and facing long lines at testing sites.
All of this is happening as COVID transmission is registering at high levels coast to coast, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map of the spread.
On Dec. 30, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reported cases rising “more than 230 percent” in the last weeks of the year.
“From Nov. 28-Dec. 4 we had 1,477 cases. From Dec. 19-25 we had 4,914 cases. This data is preliminary and likely an underestimate because of reporting lags,” the health department noted.
The next round of county case counts are expected Tuesday (Jan. 4). On Monday, the state Department of Health dashboard reported 6,037 new cases statewide after breaking records in the last week. The department warned that the state’s total case count could have as many as 2,000 duplicates that DOH is working to eliminate.
The list of county testing sites and hours open are at piercecountywa.gov/7086/Pierce-County-Covid-19-Testing-Site and at tpchd.org/healthy-people/diseases/covid-19/testing-information.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
