Wichita State University closing COVID-19 testing site because of ‘extreme cold’

Wichita State‘s COVID-19 testing facility on Oliver will close to drive-thru COVID-19 testing Thursday because of the “extreme cold,” the university said Wednesday in a news release.

Wichita is forecast to see less than an inch of snow with a windchill as low as -10 degrees overnight Wednesday, according to a National Weather Service in Wichita meteorologist. The coldest temperatures are expected to be between 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., according to meteorologist Vanessa Pearce.

The Wichita State news release said the molecular diagnostics lab at 4174 S. Oliver (Building 174H) will be closed Thursday for drive-thru testing but will still accept “Community Collection Partner specimen drop-offs” on that day. The drive-thru testing will reopen Friday.

Testing sites are booming in Sedgwick County as COVID, mainly led by the Delta variant, spreads rapidly.

The Associated Press, using state data, reported a record high for the average number of new cases a day over seven days, with 4,311 for the seven days ending Wednesday.

Sedgwick County manager Tom Stolz told commissioners Wednesday that the county’s testing site at 4115 E. Harry was filled up. He said the Kansas Department of Health Environment’s testing site at 1847 N. Chautauqua had availability the day before.

Wichita State’s announcement comes the same day that hospital officials asked for a statewide emergency declaration as hospitals are overrun with patients and short-staffed, partly due to personnel getting sick.

The statewide emergency declaration would allow hospitals to house more patients than their licensed number of patients. It also could allow for the National Guard or federal assistance to help with staffing.

Testing sites and vaccine information can be found at sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19.

Contributing: Dion Lefler with The Eagle