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The long lines outside testing sites have shortened. Appointments have opened up. Results are coming back faster. The winter coronavirus testing crisis is over.
The omicron surge peaked in early January just at the moment when people needed coronavirus tests the most: back from the December holiday season, surrounded by friends who had caught the bug, returning to school and work — and often needing proof of a negative test result.
Across California, laboratories processed more than 4.1 million tests in the first 10 days of January, double the number recorded in early December, according to the state Department of Public Health. People seeking tests in San Francisco quadrupled, officials said.
Test-takers faced long lines at sites across the Bay Area, then were forced to wait at home for days for delayed results. Some of the blame for the backup was that staff running the test centers and laboratories were themselves sick with COVID and couldn’t work. Even over-the-counter rapid home tests disappeared from pharmacy shelves.
But now, just as precipitously as the wintertime surge arrived and waned, long wait times for appointments and results have begun to ease. Statewide, demand for tests declined nearly 13% from its earlier peak to 3.8 million tests for the week ending Jan. 17.
In San Francisco, the seven-day rolling average number of daily tests peaked at 14,721 specimens on Jan. 8 and had dropped to 10,044 as of Jan. 19, according to city data.
“It’s still high but has returned to something more manageable,” said Jenny Im, testing branch director at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Kaiser Permanente Northern California officials said they are still processing large volumes of tests, currently about 140,000 tests each week — more than three times greater than before the wintertime omicron surge.
A combination of factors has helped improve testing capacity. Testing center employees infected with the coronavirus during the surge have finished their isolation and returned to work, health officials said. Testing sites streamlined processes and laid on more workers.
“A lot of places added staff, collection sites and extended hours — that took some pressure off,” said Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious diseases with the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “We are hearing labs are able to get back to normal staffing. There are less people out, and there’s a drop in the demand for testing.”
Health care workers direct traffic at the COVID-19 testing area run by the Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center at the fairgrounds in San Jose on Jan. 6, 2022. Demand for tests has begun to slow.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The ChronicleIn Marin County, some testing sites are allowing people to come without appointments again, a practice they had to drop in late December when demand became too high, according to county spokesperson Laine Hendricks.
Turnaround times for results were directly tied to the record numbers of testing site employees getting sick, Hendricks said. All but one site — where numerous staff were still out — have returned to the target time of delivering results within 48 hours, she said.
“The labs have caught up and the demand has waned,” Hendricks said.
Burlingame-based Color, which provides antigen testing for thousands of schools and businesses in California and elsewhere, said it is back to delivering 95% of test results within 24 hours.
Results were significantly delayed in early January due to “unprecedented testing volumes and staff shortages from omicron outbreaks,” the company said. Color added staff at its Burlingame lab and streamlined production to increase output, according to a company spokesperson, MaryEllen Green.
“We know how crucial timely results are to keeping populations safe and healthy, and we aggressively manage the different elements that influence turnaround times,” Green said.
Another major factor that has eased pressure on official test labs is the rising use and greater acceptance of over-the-counter home antigen tests. As lines grew and lab results bottlenecked, more people took matters into their own hands — until the supply of test kits dried up.
Walgreens instituted a four-test purchase limit for at-home COVID tests at its stores while working to get more supplies, company spokesperson Zoe Krey said. Some stories are still experiencing shortages and the company is working to meet “unprecedented demand,” she said.
But the situation is improving. On Jan. 14, the Biden administration announced it would send 500 million at-home tests to households across the country. People could requests kits through the U.S. Post Office, and the packages were expected to arrive between seven and 12 days from the date requested. Staff for Rep. Mike Thompson, a Napa Democrat, said the first test kits should start arriving any day.
At some CVS and Walgreens stores in San Francisco, signage on the doors and by the checkout counter saying no test kits were available has been replaced by signs describing how to get reimbursed for kits by your insurance company. Tests were available upon request, kept behind the counter or at the pharmacy, though the inventory was mostly out of sight.
San Francisco helped cut demand for laboratory tests by distributing around 150,000 rapid tests to skilled nursing facilities and emergency responders, said branch manager Im.
The peak of the testing frenzy, “was such a hectic time, and it was amazing to see how everyone pulled together,” she said. Now, “we’re at full operations, people are able to get appointments, people are able to drop in.”
Julie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: julie.johnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @juliejohnson
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