Limited COVID-19 testing supplies create uncertain risks for this year’s holiday gatherings in Montgomery County and across the country.
Just one week after the highly communicable Omicron variant was first detected in Maryland on December 3, positive COVID-19 cases increased 29% in the state.
Three hospitals in Montgomery County as of Wednesday were on red alert, meaning they had no EKG-monitored beds available, including all critical inpatient areas and telemetry beds, according to the Alert Tracking System of county hospitals known as CHATS. Another three hospitals were placed on a yellow alert, which means that they requested not to receive more patients who need urgent care.
As of Tuesday, 205 people in the county were hospitalized due to the coronavirus, according to Montgomery County Public Health and Human Services Emergency Preparedness Manager Sean O’Donnell.
Montgomery County offers free COVID-19 tests in various places, but actually getting tested is getting harder, according to residents. The county noted that testing is limited and dating-only testing sites are reserved for the foreseeable future.
Private providers like Walgreens and CVS are also reserved for appointments, and home test kits remain expensive and hard to come by. Home test kits cost an average of $ 25 from private providers, an expense that adds up to multiple exposures.
Since people plan to attend holiday gatherings, health experts recommend testing hours before the event. Without the kits available, awareness of the risks becomes increasingly difficult.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned against large festive gatherings, particularly if the vaccination status of the attendees is unknown.
In a release, Governor Larry Hogan said: “As I have been warning for the past few weeks, we are entering another pivotal moment in the fight against COVID-19.”
“I can’t stress this enough: getting vaccinated and getting boosted is your strongest possible defense against this virus and its variants.”
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