Local pharmacies and medical labs are seeing an increased demand for at-home, rapid COVID test ahead of this weekend's New Year's Eve gatherings. HomeTown pharmacies across West Michigan have been wiped clean of their kit inventory, and Artic Molecular labs are getting more and more requests for the tests too.
Pharmacy Manager Rick Grice says they get dozens of calls a day asking about the tests. The location on Walker Street was sent about 50 kits, which sold out earlier this week. He says he's noticed an uptick in sales lately.
"You can see surges at certain times, and different factors can contribute to that like the holidays," Grice says. "People are testing before they go over to see relatives or friends, or traveling, then after the fact as well."
Dr. Brent Zanke with Arctic Molecular labs has seen the demand too. The medical lab develops and processes at-home PCR test kits, and he says both the number of requests and the positivity rate has increased.
"In the summertime and the early fall, we were seeing maybe about eight or nine percent of all of the tests that we would be seeing in the lab were positive," Dr. Zanke says. "But now we're up to about 30 or 40% of all of the samples that we are receiving are positive."
He says almost all of the positive tests they're getting right now are the Omicron variant. For anyone who's feeling sick and taking a rapid, anti-gen test at home, he encourages getting another one done too.
"The rapid tests really are not nearly as as effective as PCR," Dr. Zanke says.
"It's good to see people taking it seriously and getting tested," Grice says.
He says pay extra attention to the instructions in your at-home test kit to get accurate results, and if you weren't able to get your hands on one before your New Year's Eve party, he urges people at home to make informed choices about your health.
"Wear your mask in groups and if you don't feel good, try to stay home as much as you can," he says.
HomeTown Pharmacy expects a shipment of at-home, rapid COVID tests for all locations early next week. The pharmacy also offers PCR testing.
You can request a PCR test through Arctic Molecular too.
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