Higher demand in testing has led to delays in COVID-19 testing at Madison Memorial Hospital
REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) - The omicron variant has led to more people beginning to wonder if they have COVID-19. A higher demand in testing has led Madison Memorial Hospital to experience some delays as they try to help out and serve the Area.
The higher demand has led to some difficulties in the hospital making sure they have enough testing kits on hand.
Executive director for business development Doug McBride, who during our interview was socially distanced before removing his mask, says some of the suppliers for the testing kits weren't fully prepared for the sudden increase in testing.
"Now that the omicron has come back in and people are starting to do a lot more testing than they're seeing that real surge and that demand on there, that is not allowing us to get the test kits that we needed," McBride said.
As such, people are not able to get their results right away.
"They can take anywhere from three to five days, actually three to six days, we're seeing some of those come," McBride said. "It's starting to lag a little bit more because we're seeing so many such high volume come in right now. And so that's kind of the lag time three to five days, three to six days is kind of what we're telling people."
He also encouraged we continue to do the simple things in the fight against COVID-19.
"We try to stay the course and do the best that we can and help each other be respectful of each other space, be respectful of wearing masking and when it's appropriate and do the best you can if you're if you're not feeling well, stay home," he said.
