When Ms. Chen learned that her cousin’s entire family tested positive for the virus after a Christmas gathering she attended with them in Orange County, pharmacies were sold out of rapid tests. Lines exceeded two hours at a local testing site. A Rite Aid website said no appointments were available within 50 miles of her home for at least two weeks.
Ms. Chen, 38, who isn’t symptomatic, tried to order a home-delivered PCR test through a Los Angeles County program, but so far hasn’t even received confirmation it is on its way. “I’m just frustrated because they’re telling us, ‘Go test, go test,’ but how do you do that if the resources aren’t available?” Ms. Chen said.
As soaring demand makes lab-based and at-home tests hard to come by, many people are forsaking tests, leaving them unable to determine whether they are infected and potentially exposing others. Those who manage to get at-home rapid tests rarely report the results to health departments, often because the means to do so is cumbersome or nonexistent. As a result, public-health officials lack the full picture of the virus’s spread when the Omicron variant is raging.
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