COVID cases, testing surge in Las Vegas Valley

The largest COVID-19 testing site in Las Vegas administered more than 1,300 tests Sunday evening, a number nine times higher than normal and a sign that demand for testing is spiking along with case numbers, a Clark County official said Monday.

The drive-thru and walk-in site in a UNLV parking lot off of Paradise Road on average administers about 150 tests an evening, said Clark County Emergency Manager Billy Samuels. The site was able to expand its daily capacity of 500 tests by using surplus tests left over from earlier low-demand periods and by calling upon the county fire department along with university and Las Vegas police for assistance with traffic control. Personnel also stayed on an hour past the normal closing time, he said.

Still, some people waited 2½ hours to get tested, said Samuels, a deputy fire chief.

Sunday’s testing count was “such an anomaly that, obviously, we don’t want to jump the gun and staff up for 1,400 tests” in the next couple days without first seeing a trend, he said. The site at UNLV had been closed the previous week, which might have created some pent-up demand.

The county, state and Southern Nevada Health District will all be looking at testing data early this week to determine if they need to add sites or expand hours at existing sites, he said.

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Clark County, the state and the nation, a surge attributed in part to the omicron variant, a highly contagious strain of the virus. The variant represents about 31 percent of cases genetically analyzed by the Southern Nevada Health District over the past week and a half, said Cassius Lockett, director of disease surveillance and control.

Demand increasing

Demand for testing in Clark County has been steadily rising in December, according to figures from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. Spot checks Monday morning of public testing sites showed that appointments were available as soon as Wednesday. An informal survey showed that appointments weren’t available at some area pharmacies until next week.

“The demand for testing is incredible right now,” Lockett said. He urged people who don’t want to wait for an appointment to try district sites that specify that they accept walk-ins, where additional capacity is built in.

More than 8,000 tests were done at health district sites last week, up from 5,000 tests the previous week, district representative Jennifer Sizemore said.

Lockett said that he is hearing from residents who are frustrated that they can’t find rapid tests at drug stores, where they are quickly bought up. He expects the problem to ease in January, when the health district will begin to distribute thousands of free rapid tests as part of the federal program announced by President Biden last week. Details on how the district will distribute the tests are still being decided, he said.

Trouble finding a rapid test in area stores was a main reason people gave for going to the UNLV testing site on Sunday, said Samuels, relying on anecdotal information and not a formal survey. Others said they were there to ensure their families were safe over the holidays, they needed to be tested for work or had been exposed to a person with COVID-19.

“A whole bunch of variables came into play,” Samuels said. “We didn’t see those variables coming.”

New CDC guidance on when to test

In new guidance issued Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that unvaccinated people, or those overdue for a booster shot, should quarantine for five days and wear a mask for an additional five days if they’re exposed to COVID-19. Those who have received a booster do not need to quarantine following an exposure, according to the agency, but should wear a mask for 10 days.

Everyone who is exposed to a person with the virus should be tested five days after exposure, the CDC said. Anyone with symptoms should immediately quarantine until receiving a negative rest result.

“If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19,” according to a statement from the CDC.

Dr. Michael Gardner, associate dean of strategy with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, said that possibly waiting a day or two to be tested is an inconvenience, but a far cry from “when everybody was unvaccinated and everybody was exposed to the risk of the ICU and death.”

Samuels urged patience at crowded testing sites. “We’re doing our best,” he said. “These are different times.”

The UNLV testing site, located at 851 E. Tropicana Ave., operates from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Other testing site information can be found at http://covid.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/testing/.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter. Reporter Jonah Dylan contributed to this report.