Some community providers are scaling back COVID-19 testing and vaccination services – at least for now – as the omicron surge looks to be subsiding.
Athena Esoterix has closed its walk-up community testing site on Signal Mountain Road, which staff opened to the public in early January in an attempt to accommodate the region’s high demand for COVID-19 testing.
Elizabeth Forrester, co-founder and technical director of Athena Esoterix, said the group is still offering at-home kits for pickup at Hixson Pharmacy, Brainerd Pharmacy, Signal Mountain Pharmacy, Fairyland Pharmacy or directly at the lab’s facility in the Aquarium Conservation Institute Building at 175 Baylor School Road.
While people across the region are seeking fewer tests these days, demand for at-home kits has remained steady, and many people are still testing positive, she said.
“Demand for testing has gone down sharply, but the number of positives isn’t correlating. We’re running fewer samples, but the positivity is still relatively high,” Forrester said.