COVID-19 testing wait times reach hours at CenturyLink as cases climb in SWFL

Lines for COVID-19 testing continue to grow as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are once again on the rise in Southwest Florida.

Many of the people in line for a test were exposed over the holiday weekend. Others want to make sure they are negative before making New Year’s plans, and some are feeling symptoms.

The line at the CenturyLink testing site in Fort Myers stretched down the road on Tuesday.

WINK News spoke with people who said they waited an hour and a half to two hours for a test, but they say it is worth it.

A combination of the quickly spreading variant and the holiday gatherings caused a spike in cases.

Florida reported 39,000 cases on Monday from the Christmas weekend.

With New Year’s Eve coming up, some people are thinking about changing their plans.

Margaux Fry of Fort Myers said, “I didn’t really think about it before, but obviously, with all this stuff going on, it’s definitely on the back of everyone’s mind.”

“If it’s positive for COVID, it changes lots of things,” said Kathleen Flynn Barnett of Sanibel. “I have a friend visiting and two more people coming in, so you know we’ll just adjust.”

Adjusting is something we’ve all learned through the pandemic.

Dr. Larry Antonucci with Lee Health says this new variant comes with good and bad. “I think what’s a little bit worrisome is that we’ve seen a 70% increase in hospitalization just over the past couple of weeks. And, you know, we certainly don’t want that rate to increase. But compared to what we saw on delta, the numbers are much, much lower. As you know, during the peak of the delta surge, we had over 600 patients with COVID in the hospital. We’re at 59, but we’re hoping that this surge will get through our community, and then we’ll start to see a lowering of those cases.”

By now, many know COVID-19 is here to stay, so when it comes to moving forward, Michelle Ciuffetelli said, “let’s be safe but let’s also live and do life, but let’s do it safely.”

“Hopefully, it will mutate to be less aggressive. As long as we chip away at it, I think we’re going to win this battle,” said Tony Zenga from Montreal.

People who went through the testing line at CenturyLink said everything went smoothly despite the wait. And with appointments at pharmacies filling up and out-of-stock at-home tests, people say CenturyLink is the best bet.

“It’s the only one I can figure out how to do. I tried Walgreens by my house and it sent me ten miles up my house on 41,” said Michael Orange.

Flynn Barnett said, “I tried drug stores CVS and Walgreens. There’s no appointment available for the next three days so this I can at least get today.”

Nomi Health, the group that runs the site, says they are still deciding if they will adjust their hours to handle the spike. On Monday, they announced the site would be walk-up only. No more appointments.

If you want to know where your closest testing site is, you can find a complete list of Florida’s COIVD-19 testing locations by clicking here.

You can also search for testing sites by entering your zip code on the Curative website by clicking here. Curative has five testing Locations in Lee County and is accepting appointments.