MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Testing locations across the city aren’t testing as many people as they can, and some days there are dozens of openings at various locations.
Medical experts said in order to reopen the economy, more people need to be tested.
At a testing location in Frasyer that opened up this past weekend, health officials report its testing capacity is 200, but on Saturday, 117 people showed up.
“We are actually trying to gather information from the community to better understand why people are not availing themselves of testing,” Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter said.
Haushalter said people could be confused on whether they can get tested or not, they may be concerned they have to pay, or they just don’t trust it.
“It has to do with the number of tests in your community,” said Dr. Jeff Warren, who’s on the Memphis City Council and the local COVID-19 task force. “I think we are about a third of where we need to be to be able to open up and keep tabs on it to keep it from getting out of control again.”
Current testing criteria could be another reason there are openings.
Under federal guidelines, people who do not show symptoms are labeled as non-priority, and it seems LOCAL testing sites agree.
The locations WREG called all asked if you have symptoms.
Healthcare workers have said it’s been hard finding locations that will test them if they aren’t sick.
But other states are straying from federal guidelines. California is now recommending testing people, symptomatic or not, who live or work in high-risk settings like nursing homes.
COVID-19 testing capacity at the community testing centers in Shelby County is currently 3,700 per week.The task force is building capacity with expectations of reaching 6,600 to 7,000 per week shortly.