Hundreds of Arizona drivers waited in bumper-to-bumper traffic for up to three hours to get a COVID-19 test as cases fueled by the Omicron variant surged by 30 percent in the state.
Aerial footage above Tempe, near Phoenix, showed the traffic nightmare caused by desperate residents heading to a test site run by Embry Health on Friday.
Lines were so long, Embry staffers were going car to car to recommend finding another testing site, ABC 15 reported.
The long line of cars prevented residents in the neighborhood to pull into the driveways of their home.
As Omicron continues to sweep the nation, roughly three in 10 cases in Arizona came back positive this week. The state now has 15,000 new cases and almost 83,000 total cases, according to the Arizona Department of Health.
For days, Arizona drivers have lined up in three or more hour lines for COVID-19 testing as Omicron surges throughout the state and the nation
Lines have been long for days, with one community college testing site (pictured) seeing more than 30,000 patients
On Friday, Tempe citizens were waiting in long lines that wrapped around a neighborhood and block entrances to homes
On Friday, the last person in line at around 5.30pm said that her appointment was scheduled for 3.20pm.
It is unknown how long it took for that person to reach the front of the line.
Just a few days earlier, one testing site at a local community college had already served more than 30,000 patients as the lines packed the parking lots and was backed up around the block, according to News 12.
Embry Health, which has performed most of the state’s testing, were reportedly telling some patients to find other testing sites as lines became endless
The positivity rate in the state has reached over 20 percent, a mark not seen since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of cases in the last two weeks has jumped nearly 180 percent.
Hospitalizations and deaths in the state continue to stay low. Roughly 2,500 people were hospitalized with the virus in the as of Thursday, with a little over 600 in the ICU.
Arizona has 57 percent of its population fully vaccinated.
The number of cases in the last two weeks has jumped nearly 180 per cent
