‘Enormous demand’: Miami-Dade libraries hand out 138,000 take-home COVID tests Monday
Amid increasing concerns over the new COVID-19 variant, long lines for free COVID tests were reported across Miami-Dade County on Monday as county libraries gave away about 138,000 take-home tests.
Twenty-seven Miami-Dade public library locations began offering free take-home rapid test kits on Monday morning. By mid-afternoon, most had already run out of their allocated 90,000 tests, county spokeswoman Rachel Johnson said. The county also distributed more than 12,000 tests at its libraries on Christmas Eve.
“We’ve seen enormous demand for tests across library locations,” Johnson told the Miami Herald in an email.
The county restocked the libraries Monday afternoon with an additional 48,000 tests. By closing at 8 p.m., all the available tests had been distributed for a total of about 138,000 on Monday alone. No more test distributions were planned this week.
The tests were provided by Florida’s Department of Health and the libraries gave them away with a limit of three per household.
“We are working with the state to bring additional supplies if possible but right now we don’t have any more shipments coming from DOH, so we would not be able to give out any additional test kits this week unless we get another shipment,” Johnson said in a statement earlier on Monday.
In a separate statement Monday, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the county expanded its test distribution to meet a “recent surge in demand for COVID testing.”
“By taking the simple precautions that we all know work, we can get through this holiday season safely together,” she said.
With demand for COVID testing increasing dramatically this month as the omicron variant sweeps through South Florida and the country, some people searching for rapid tests that can go for as much as $25 for a box of two at retail shops have reported empty shelves. That has placed more demand on public testing and kits provided by the government.
Spokeswomen for Walmart and CVS, two retailers that sell take-home COVID tests, said their inventory is more limited online than at physical store locations.
Walmart has imposed a purchase limit of eight test kits for online orders while CVS has a six-kit limit for all purchases. Neither would say whether there were any shortages specifically in South Florida stores. A Walgreens press release last week said some stores may experience a temporary shortage in rapid test kits. It announced a four-item limit for COVID test kits purchased online and in store.
“We are seeing significant demand on COVID-19 at home testing kits,” Walmart spokeswoman Ashley Nolan wrote in an email. “We have strong inventory levels nationally in-store, however inventory is more limited online
CVS spokeswoman Tara Burke said the company is working to keep its stores stocked with the five over-the-counter COVID tests they offer.
“We’re committed to providing families with protection and peace of mind during the holiday season, and we continue to offer access to lab-based testing with results available in 1-2 days or rapid COVID-19 testing at more than 4,800 CVS Pharmacy locations,” she wrote in an email.
In Coconut Grove, the branch library gave away its supply of more than 400 tests before the library was set to open at 9:30 a.m. Others, like Hialeah Gardens and South Miami, also reported running out early Monday morning.
Video taken outside West Kendall Regional Library showed a long line of about 150 people stretching from the front door past several storefronts along the sidewalk.
Toni Bracero, a supervisor at Coconut Grove Branch Library, said people started lining up outside around 8 a.m. and staff started giving away its supply before 8:30 a.m. — an hour before opening. The test kits were gone by 9:15 a.m.
“It was very busy in the morning,” she said.
At Hialeah Gardens Branch Library, an employee who answered the phone said staff began giving away test kits at 9 a.m. and quickly ran out. The employee, who gave her name as Janet, said the county would provide more later in the day.
“There was a big line,” she said.
An employee at South Miami Branch Library said the county replenished its supply of tests shortly after the library ran out around 9:30 a.m. As of 12:30 p.m., there were still tests available but supplies were running low.
At around 11:30 Monday morning, there was no wait at the Miami Beach Regional Library. Two deputies and a library staffer stood at a table outside the library entrance, handing out three home rapid tests at a time to anyone who walked up.
Earlier in the morning, Assistant Manager Mike Price said there had been a “steady line” of people outside picking up test kits. He said anyone interested in the free tests should call the library ahead of time.
By 12:45 p.m., the library by Collins Park had run out of tests. An officer said he expected a truck would arrive in two to three hours to restock.
Miami Beach resident Jennifer Caplan told the Miami Herald she was taking one test to her friend who has COVID-19 and needs to test negative before returning to work. The other two are for her family when they need them.
She said she’s been to multiple drug stores in recent days and found they were sold out of rapid tests. She got lucky in one case where a shipment had just arrived.
“It’s just hit or miss,” she said.
Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 11:52 AM.
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