The Carson City Health and Human Services say they saw an increase in demand for Covid-19 testing in mid to late July.

Officials said before the increase in demand, there was a decrease at the end of May, which made them pause testing operations at the health department. But now testing is in full swing again to keep up with demand.

During the testing event on August 17th, the process was quick and easy for people to drive up to the site and receive their tests.

Jessica Rapp, the Public Information Officer for the CCHHS, told us "We ask them to show up, drive through, fill out some paper work pull up and get tested without even having to leave their car."

All they had to do was give some quick information, so they could later receive their test results. Then they drove right up to the Nation Guard helpers and were swabbed on site.

Rapp says "Once you get tested you are good to go, it's not like the vaccine where you have to wait for 15 minutes, they're good to go once we swab them."

And you can stay in your car the entire time.

Rapp says they try and keep their wait time in the drive through under 30 minutes. But she says by the time they get handed the paperwork to the time they receive their test, the wait time is only around 5 minutes.

Rapp also mentions there may be a few reason the demand for testing has increased "Coming together again, school starting and the Delta Variant are all leading to this increase in testing."

She says getting your results back could take around 3 to 5 business days, but it could be shorter or longer depending on how fast the lab processes the results.

Rapp mentioned "We want to make sure that those who live out in areas that don't necessarily have a CVS or Walgreen's to go get a test where they can come and get one from us."

She also says working with the National Guard during the testing events is a great time, and they've been a tremendous help  "We were able to slow down our testing and then when we needed to increase it, they were right there to assist us."

Rapp says the goal is to increase the access to testing for the community "We are increasing our testing events, we do at least two throughout the quad county region, so Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey Counties each week."

If you would like to get tested, there are a few upcoming events this week:

  • August 18th, 2021 from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. at the Mark Twain Community Center, 500 Sam Clemens Ave., Dayton.
  • August 19th, 2021 from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. at Fernley City Hall, 595 Silver Lace Blvd, Fernley.