COVID-19 testing in high demand as students return from break

PHOTO: Even with the large testing capacity of UC Davis’s Activities and Recreation Center, there were as many as 400 people waiting in line to test at any given time on Jan. 2.

By Genna Olavarri,

BlueDevilHUB.com Editor-in-chief–

The line for COVID-19 testing wrapped around the block of the UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center all day today as hundreds of university students and community members stood waiting to enter the testing facility. 

Healthy Davis Together, a collaborative project between UC Davis and the City of Davis to limit community spread of COVID-19, experienced an unprecedented demand for tests on Jan. 2. 

“We normally test anywhere from 2-3,000… per day,” said David Goldenberg, a supervisor of the testing program at the ARC. “We’re going to see that 2-3,000 double to about 6,000 people per day.”

The testing team at the ARC has been expecting an influx in people coming to test. The university mandated that students, facility and staff returning to campus after the holidays get tested within the first week. 

“We anticipated this so we hired more of our own staff to come in that normally work later in the week for overtime work,” Goldenberg said.

As a result, even with as many as 400 people in line at a time, the wait to get tested rarely was longer than 15 minutes. 

“It’s a pretty long line… This is the longest it’s ever been,” Davis High junior Elise Parker said. “But it’s moving fast.”

In contrast, people waiting to get tested at the HDT at Research Park site stood in line for 45 minutes to two hours. Unlike the ARC location, it offers both symptomatic and non-symptomatic testing while operating in a smaller facility. 

The two sites, at the ARC and Research Park, were the only ones open on Sunday. The rest of the testing facilities that closed for the New Years holiday weekend will reopen on Monday, Jan. 3.

Like UC Davis, the Davis Joint Unified School District is set to resume school this week. 

“Due to increasing infection rates and the spread of the Omicron variant, we strongly encourage all DJUSD students to get tested before they return to campus,” the DJUSD Communications Team said in an email to parents. 

“Testing is a great option and luckily it’s free to us here and we’re taking advantage of that,” said DJUSD parent Jennifer Perkins as she stood in line to test at the Research Park facility.

While it is recommended, the district does not currently enforce regular testing. “I feel like there’s going to be a lot more cases because people aren’t getting tested [enough] so they don’t know if they have it or not,” Harper Junior High student Addison Perkins said as she waited with her mother. 

Students and other community members interested in getting tested at any of the HDT facilities are encouraged to make an appointment ahead of time. By scheduling an appointment, individuals can flash their barcodes to the person checking them in rather than spelling out their names, significantly speeding up the process. 

“For [everyone] wanting to come in and test, we’ll handle them,” Goldenberg said. “But if the line’s backed up just be patient with us because we’re not only… accommodating the campus of students, facility, and staff, but we’re also trying to accommodate the community members as well.”

Individuals can register for a HDT account or schedule an appointment at https://healthydavistogether.org/testing/#appointment.