Good luck finding an at-home Covid antigen test this week. Pharmacy chains are scrambling to restock the hot commodity in Metro Detroit and around the state.
Free walk-in molecular tests, called PCR tests (for polymerase chain reaction), also can be tricky to schedule at urgent-care clinics and public health agencies because of heightened demand, The Detroit News says. No supply shortage is reported.
In Detroit, the hotline to schedule a Covid test was so overwhelmed in the middle of the day Monday that some struggled to even get through. Across Metro Detroit, health officials and hospital leaders say they're seeing an increased demand for tests.
"We're definitely seeing increased volumes of Covid-19 testing at our site in Sterling Heights. We're also seeing increased volumes of testing-related inbound calls to our Covid-19 help line," said Andrew Cox, director and health officer of the Macomb County Health Department.
Detroit's Health Department offers free rapid tests and Covid vaccinations for residents at the Joseph Walker Williams Community Center, 8431 Rosa Parks Blvd. in the North LaSalle neighborhood. Testing is done by appointment from 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m weekdays, including New Year's Eve. Call (313) 230-0505. No prescription is needed, but a photo ID with proof of residency will be requestred.
The state also has community pop-up testing sites, which can be found at this site.
Another page from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services lists pharmacies and other stores selling rapid self-test kits and offering PCR tests by appointment.
Walgreens recently set a four-test purchase limit online and in stores, while CVS limits in-home tests to six per customer.
Rapid tests from the federal government are supposed to be delivered to health agencies in January, but a website to request them isn't up yet, The News says.
