COVINGTON, Ky. — Just months ago, the parking lot at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington was filled as people waited hours to get tested for COVID-19. Now, the site is shutting down as fewer people look for in-person tests.
Kelly Theurer stopped by the site one day before closing to get tested and say goodbye.
"I'm terribly sad," Theurer said. "I've been coming here since they set up shop in this parking lot. I travel a lot for work ... and it's literally the only place in the Tri-State where I can come, drive-thru, get a quick test and get the results back really fast."
Jeff Wellens, director of field services for Gravity Diagnostics, said they are closing because their partnership with the city is ending and the number of people getting tested continues to decrease.
"Last January, we were hitting about 2,000 a day and that was sustained for a good number of weeks after the holiday and at the present time we are just under about 10% of that now — about 200 tests a day between the site here and the Florence Mall," Wellens said.
Ashley Auciello with the Health Collaborative said the overall number of tests in the Tri-State has dropped. Dr. Stephen Feagins, medical director for Hamilton County Public Health, said that doesn't mean the positivity rate is lower than before.
"Right now, it feels like things are kind of normal, but yet the positive rate for Southwest Ohio was like 1.6% this week last year, and it's almost 12% this week this year," Feagins said.
Feagins said that number is partly because testing is less frequent, but noted COVID has not become endemic.
"Endemic really isn't that term because endemic really means that you can predict when the flu season is going to start, you know kinda what's it going to be like, you know when you need to vaccinate for the flu each year," Feagins said. "You're not sure about that with COVID yet."
Theurer said she isn't sure where she'll go to get tested in the future. Aucielle recommended visiting TestAndProtectCincy.com to find COVID testing locations.
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