LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — As health leaders call for more testing, are there actually tests available?
You've probably had trouble tracking one down.
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Commissioner, Eric Zgodzinski, said we need more COVID-19 at-home testing kits as they're in high demand right now. He explained the department is working on getting more kits from the state as they play a major role in fighting the pandemic.
"It definitely is a main tool in the tool bag to help fight COVID. If you know that you're positive, you should be staying at home, staying away from other people," Zgodzinski said. "And what does that do? That really negates that ability for that virus to transfer from you to someone else."
Two weeks ago, the TLCHD went through 20,000 free testing kits in less than 24 hours.
The Toledo Lucas County Public Library distributed 150,000 kits in 2021, averaging about 12,000 per week at the end of the year. But you won't find any in stock right now.
"We're going to be looking into how to move some of the test kits that we have here at the department out sometime this week," Zgodzinski said. "The idea of increase in cases over the next couple weeks? I think even 10,000 kits probably won't be enough for the community."
As for Wood County, Way Public Library went through 465 at-home tests in less than an hour Monday morning.
Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison said the health department distributed 25,000 testing kits ahead of the holidays.
"We know that we're working closely with the state of Ohio to get tests re-supplied into the whole state, but there's a lot of demand right now," he explained. "So, even though the state's working diligently to get them, there just isn't a supply to keep up right now with what people are looking for."
If you need to get tested for COVID-19, health officials suggest calling your primary care doctor to see what's the best option for you.