Area residents wanting an at-home COVID-19 test have been struggling now for around a month to find those. Now demand for free testing has forced Healthier Lyon County to cancel one of its clinics this week.
The clinic Tuesday is canceled because the bulk testing shipment from the state didn’t arrive as expected, and Healthier Lyon County is hoping that shipment is here in time for Thursday evening’s clinic. Grant manager Daphne Mertens says there has been a tremendous jump in demand just over the past two weeks, as evidenced by the most recent clinic Sunday.
Mertens says it is tentatively planning to have Thursday’s clinic as scheduled, but the clinic will be canceled if tests don’t arrive by Thursday morning.
The free service is helping to fill a niche with Lyon County Public Health seeing a major increase in demand for free tests and Newman Regional Health starting free tests. Healthier Lyon County started using a two-year, $200,000 RADx grant this past summer, and for months it had to use incentives to get people interested in free tests.
Residents wanting to use Public Health for tests need to schedule appointments online at www.publichealth.lyoncounty.org. Residents wanting to go to Newman Regional Health need to call 620-343-6801 for appointments — and they are now being asked not to visit ExpressCare or the hospital’s emergency room in an effort to keep the ER as free as possible for emergencies.
Thursday’s clinic through Healthier Lyon County is tentatively set for 5-7 pm, with another clinic Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm. All clinics are at the Healthier Lyon County CrossWinds office at 104 East Eighth. To set appointments, you will need to call 620-208-3218 while the clinic is underway — not before and not after.
