LITTLE ROCK, Ark — If you're rushing to get tested ahead of Christmas this weekend, you're not alone. Pharmacies, clinics and hospitals have seen an uptick in COVID-19 testing due to the omicron variant.
"There are lots of questions about the omicron variant. The numbers this week from the CDC indicate that in a number of states, it's the majority of cases. I expect that we have a lot of omicron in Arkansas," said Dr. Robert Hopkins with UAMS.
Hopkins said one of the reasons that it's difficult to know how many omicron cases we have in the state is because it takes time to run genetic testing to verify that the virus is the omicron variant.
And as the nation continues to see another potential wave of COVID-19, Hopkins said overall testing rates for them have fluctuated, as they haven't seen as many people as they had loved.
"We're seeing some people coming in for testing when they're coming in to town to be with families," said Hopkins.
As Christmas continues to approach, pharmacies are seeing some people purchasing at-home testing.
"Starting off the week we had probably about 6 or 7, then we started getting calls on Monday and we realized very quickly that people were going to be wanting them for the holidays," said Anne Pace at Kavanaugh Pharmacy.
The pharmacy has offered at-home tests for about a month and have sold 40-50 tests within the last 24 hours.
Now, they're sold out and are reserving kits for some.
But, despite the convenience of at-home testing, Pace said they can sometimes lack the accuracy of going through a drive-thru or a clinic.
"I think the main issue with the at-home COVID tests is people have to be willing to swab themselves appropriately," said Pace. "When we do our testing here you know we're making sure that we get all the way up in the person's nasal cavity to make sure that we're getting far enough back where the virus can live."