Thousands of people were tested for COVID at this JoCo site. The results were ‘shocking’
Test results from a drive-thru coronavirus testing site in Johnson County returned “shocking” results last week.
MyHomeLabs, a medical supply company connected to 4M Healthcare, offered free PCR tests to families on Tuesday as students returned to school.
About 2,000 people came through the testing site between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 15112 Glenwood.
Of the 2,000 people who received tests on Tuesday, 39% came back positive for COVID-19, said CEO Jerred Mann.
“That’s a very shocking number,” he said.
Infection rates have continued to steadily climb across the metro as the prevalence of the omicron variant of COVID-19, coupled with holiday gatherings, has spurred on cases and made finding testing sites and even at-home test kits difficult.
As of Monday, Johnson County’s seven-day positivity rate was 29%. On Friday, 64% of eligible Johnson County residents were fully vaccinated.
School districts have grappled with how to handle the most recent outbreaks as students return to the classroom. The Johnson County Board of Commissioners last week agreed to continue a mask mandate for schools serving students as old as sixth grade. No county-wide mask mandate is in place.
On Tuesday, the day of the free MyHomeLabs testing, the seven-day average of new cases across the Kansas City metro hit an all time high, with 14,839 new COVID-19 infections reported in the past week.
More than 267,000 coronavirus cases have been identified across the metro since the pandemic began in early 2020. As of Sunday, 3,464 people had died.
MyHomeLabs continues to offer PCR tests online, but now at a cost of $130 a test.
