Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials urged frequent testing to contain and monitor the virus’s spread. Yet numerous barriers, like the lack of tests and long turnaround times for results, made consistent, widespread testing extremely difficult.
It was only through public investment that communities across the country were able to expand testing access. Public testing sites — at libraries, in public school gyms and outside health department buildings — helped provide accurate data and speedy results, allowing communities to track the virus and act accordingly.
Now, more than two years after COVID first appeared on American shores — and during a surge in cases caused by the omicron BA.5 subvariant — public testing sites are disappearing. From Illinois to Alaska, Texas to New York, cities and states are shuttering sites and many have stopped collecting and releasing daily case data.
