COVID-19 spike across DMV leads to surge in demand for testing

Demand for COVID-19 tests surging

With the recent rise in COVID-19 cases sparked by two variants, longer lines are popping up at testing stations across the country and in the DMV.

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DC Health officials say the push to get people tested is underway, and they are also urging people to get vaccinated and boosted.

Maryland health officials tell FOX 5 their state testing center in Baltimore had a 15 to 20 minute wait.

Some DMV residents say they want to get tested because they've recently been exposed to or are concerned about the Omicron variant.

"Yeah, I think it’s a good idea," one resident said. "I was exposed to somebody over the weekend, so I’m just doing the ‘better safe than sorry.’"

"It’s just because I’m traveling I want to make sure I keep my family members safe," another resident said.

Fairfax County reported Thursday night that they now have 377 new cases of COVID-19 and 4,217 people hospitalized for COVID-19.

The county's health department tells FOX 5 the most seriously ill have not gotten a vaccine.

Thomas Denny of the Duke University Human Vaccine Institute says he's alarmed at what we could see in January as people travel for the holidays.

"It’s a perfect storm in my view, it’s horrible," says Denny. "And it’s also going to bring challenges as we bring students back on campuses…we’ve got the perfect storm happening."

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a new order Thursday to nursing homes in the state saying that, effective immediately, they must offer monoclonal antibody treatments to residents upon identification of an outbreak.