Long lines, long waits at some COVID testing sites in Wichita. Here are alternatives

If you want to get tested for COVID-19, you may be in for a long wait – or have to pay to get tested.

Sedgwick County’s primary testing site and the molecular diagnostic laboratory run by Wichita State University – both of which offer free testing – have been overwhelmed with residents wanting to find out if they have COVID as the omicron variant spreads.

People have encountered long lines and long waits.

There are other testing options in Wichita.

More than two dozen places offer testing, but some are private businesses that charge for testing if you do not have insurance. Among private sites are Walgreens, the Little Clinic at Dillons and others.

One place not to go: hospital emergency rooms, which face high caseloads and staffing shortages. The county posted social media messages earlier this week telling people not to seek testing in ERs.

One new free public option opened in late December. The testing site, run by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, is in the former Chester Lewis Academic Learning Center at 1847 N. Chautauqua.

Of the three main testing sites in Wichita, the KDHE site was the only one that wasn’t swamped earlier this week.

The KDHE site can handle 200 tests a day but did about 125 on Tuesday, County Manager Tom Stolz told county commissioners Wednesday.

By comparison, the county-run testing site at 4415 E. East Harry is doing about 300 tests a day, more than twice what it was doing a month ago, according to Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman, the county’s point man on COVID.

Testing peaked just before Christmas, at a daily average of 342 tests.

Commissioner Jim Howell tested the county system Wednesday and found it lacking.

The county test site opens at 8 a.m. and when Howell sought to reserve a position in line about 9:20 a.m., he got shut out.

“I got this response that says the testing line is full for the rest of the day,” he said.

The message continued with “locate other testing sites at: and there’s nothing after that,” Howell said. “So it’s not directing people to a solution, it simply dead ends right there.” Stolz said staff would work to fix that.

So if you want to get tested, here are other free alternatives:

• Guadalupe Clinic, 940 S. Francis Avenue, antigen test only

• GraceMed, 1150 N. Broadway Avenue

• Dandurand Drugs, all locations

• Professional Pharmacy, 744 N. Waco Ave, antigen test only, must schedule online

• CVS, all Wichita locations, PCR test only, must schedule online

WSU’s molecular diagnostic laboratory, at 4174 S Oliver, Building 174H, was closed Thursday and opened later than usual Friday because of the cold weather.

A list of testing sites can be found on the county’s website: www.sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19

Contributing: Dion Lefler of The Eagle

This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.