NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some people waited in line for a couple of hours to get tested Monday at Nashville’s Murfreesboro Pike COVID-19 assessment center.
Due to the demand, Metro plans to open another assessment site on 28th Avenue N. in one of HCA's parking lots. They're not sure when it will actually open due to the weather.
"Meanwhile, rapid tests are not on the shelves anymore. You can’t find them... our local Walgreens is sold out. They’re sold out on Amazon. I mean, you can’t even get the at-home test kits, that’s not unique to Nashville that’s across the board," said Metro Councilmember Freddie O’Connell.
O'Connell said it's a bad situation since school is starting back. "I think this is kind of a perfect storm," he said.
The Murfreesboro Pike site in Nashville is only open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
"If you live in Bellevue and you’ve got a student at a Bellevue school, and it’s only open a certain amount of time, you’re out of luck," O’Connell said. "I think with delta being more impactful to kids, which we’re seeing in the numbers daily, you’re seeing parents justifiably more concerned and frankly needing to have more access to tests."
To slow the spread, O'Connell hopes the delays get worked out soon. "We’ve got a surge in cases that’s as bad as anything we saw last year, hospitalizations, total case count, number of kids is through the roof in contrast with what we saw last year, and we haven’t met that surge and demand for tests with available capacity," he said.
Nashville Health is also trying to do pop-up testing clinics. The one on Monday night was canceled after 30 minutes due to heavy rainfall and unsafe conditions.
