COVID-19 hospitalizations edge up in Summit County. Drive-thru testing starts Tuesday – Akron Beacon Journal

The 3,500free COVID-19 test kits that arrived Monday at the Summit County health department were all given away in about two hours, despite a limit ofone kit per person.

Marlene Martin, administrative coordinator for Summit County Public Health, said the line to the health department'sAkron offices snakedfrom the door to West Market Street from the moment it announced the kits which each came with two tests insidewere available.

Local health officialsareordering more tests from from the state, but they have no idea when the kitsmight arrive.

The public and private testing shortagehas hit Northeast Ohio amid another pandemic surge, fueled at least in partby the omicron variant.

The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Summit County also edged up slightly after the long Christmas weekend to 302 on Monday.

Stay home for New Year's Eve?: In current winter surge, Ohio ranks near top in US for COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations

To help ease the quest for tests,theOhio National Guardis joining with the healthdepartment and local hospitals tolaunch a free,drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Akron on Tuesday

It will be able tohandle 300 free tests per dayand will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily except Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

The testing site islocated at the Summa Health Corporate Office at 1077 Gorge Blvd. in Akron.

The test site will be open seven days a week beginning Jan. 2 and will remain open until there's no longer a demand.

But don't just show up there expecting a test. You must first register online for a time slot and there could be a wait.

Last week, when the Ohio National Guard opened a similar site in Cleveland,it was overwhelmed by people seeking tests andclosed early afterthree hours testing.

It has since implemented aregistration requirement aiming to cut wait times and avoid turning people away. The Akron site appears to be taking a lesson from Cleveland.

If you'd prefer to test at home, you might be searching for a test.

More home COVID testing: You took a home COVID-19 test and it's positive. Now what should you do?

Martin advised people to call local pharmacies to see if they have kits before traveling to a storeto buy one.

The rapid antigen home test kitswhich are often sold in pairs for about $22 are less sensitive than the PCRtests administered by many hospitals. If you take one during the earliest phase of an infection, before the virus has replicated widely, the test could return afalse negative, the New York Times has reported.

Yet some ofthe at-home rapid antigen tests catchabout85%of infections if the tests are done correctly. That, some public health experts have said, is a powerful tool to help people navigate the ongoing pandemic.

If you dotest positive at home, Summit County's health department wants you tofill out a form on its websiteto help track how widespread infections are here.

Cases last week were surging, Martin said, though it's unclear how many were omicron or the older variant, delta.From Dec. 22 through Dec. 24, Summit County reported between 1,026 and 1,116 new COVID cases per day.

Those numbers dropped over the weekend. On Christmas, there were 665 new cases and on Dec. 26, there were 756, Martin said.

It's unclear how much the holiday and the weekend may have contributed to the drop in numbers and whether they will rise again this week.

Hospitalizations in Summit County, meanwhile, edged up slightly, from 289 on Thursday to 302 on Monday. This is the breakdown of Monday's hospitalizations, with Thursday's number in parentheses: Western Reserve Hospital, 27(25); Akron General 115(115), Summa 148(140); Akron Children's 12(9).

Northeast Ohio currently has some of the highest COVID-19 case rates nationwide.

One Northeast Ohio man on the prowl for tests garnered more than 80,000 likes and nearly 10,000 shares onTikTok when he posted a short video abouthow he scored COVID test kits.

"I could not find a COVID test anywhere in Northeast Ohio," he said. "So I thought to myself, where am I going to find one...I looked at a map and was like, which county voted for Trump?"

The man, who goes byas AlexWheeler711 on TikTok, then holds up boxes of tests in a video as he drivesand says his theory worked because he found tests in a red county.

"Thank you, Medina," he says.

He doesn't say which store had the tests in the video, which he posted Saturday.

But by Sunday, theCVS drug store in Medina had posted signsSunday saying thatstore was sold out.

Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett can be reached at agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations edge up in Summit County. Drive-thru testing starts Tuesday - Akron Beacon Journal