Hundreds Wait In Covid-Test Lines

James Mase waited for 45 minutes in a line of cars on Long Wharf Wednesday for the chance to spit in a tube — and then find out if the Omicron variant got him.

Mase was among hundreds of drivers who waited in a never-ending line Wednesday morning at 60 Sargent Dr., one of two new Covid 19 saliva-testing sites the city has set up in conjunction with the WREN testing lab.

Mase works with special needs children. He’s fully vaccinated but still wanted to be extra careful to keep himself and his students safe.

​“There’s a lot of exposure at the school that I work for,” Mase said. ​“I tried last night to make an appointment last night to get a Covid-19 test, but then I just decided to just come here this morning.”

The saliva tests are available to anyone 5 or older. Appointments are preferred (made here), but drive-ins are accepted. The 60 Sargent Dr. site is open Sunday through Thursday and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. A second site, on the Green, is open Monday through Thursday from 2 – 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 1 – 5 p.m.

Mase’s was one of the hundreds of cars that wrapped around the parking lot of 60 Sargent Drive on Wednesday morning. Once drivers reached the front of the line, they were given a tube to spit in and seal in a bag to send off to WREN’s testing lab to determine their results.

It took Mase 45 minutes to reach the finish line. The lines didn’t let up the entire time WREN’s Covid saliva testing site was open from 8 a.m. to noon.

Some drivers were spotted getting impatient and driving out of the parking lot.

WREN’s COVID saliva testing site on Long Wharf opened up to the public on Monday. It coincided with increased demand for testing due to a combination of people going away on vacation for the holidays and wanting to be proactive throughout the recent spike of Covid cases due to the Omicron variant. WREN opened a second site on the downtown New Haven Green.

WREN Laboratory and Scientific Director Mark Kidd said tests are running out at other sites. He said that supply chains have encountered delays; tests are ordered for sites a week in advance.

“It’s always our best estimate,” Kidd said. ​“We’ve brought more testing kits here today. Probably close to 1,000, at the least. I think we’ll be OK.”

Kidd said that sailva tests are easy to collect and more accurate than nasopharyngeal testing, especially for those who are asymptomatic. The saliva Covid tests are considered 99.9 percent accurate.

“We built this test for people to self-collect,” Kidd said. ​“It is alarming to see how many cars there are here to get tested, but it’s necessary.” 

Here’s how the WREN Saliva Collection kit works: Recipients use their phones to scan a QR code. That links the user over to a website where their personal information needs to be filled out. Once submitted, their information will be sent to WREN’s lab. The recipient will spit into the tube, screw the top on, and shake it to start the chemical reaction. The test is sealed into a bag and given to a collector. Once the tubes arrive at the lab and the results are determined, the tube’s QR code will be scanned . Results are expected to arrive anywhere between 24 – 36 hours. 

Rev. Kevin Ewing of New Haven’s United Church on the Green gave a tutorial by taking his own test at a press conference held at the site Wednesday by the city and WREN staff. It took him less than a minute to complete the test.

“I don’t really think people know about saliva Covid testing yet,” Ewing said. ​“But this is so easy! It’s going to get us back out to our family and friends.” 

Mayor Justin Elicker announced at the conference that the Omicron variant is quickly becoming the most prominent variant in the city. He said Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is slammed with demand. The vast majority of hospitalizations are made up of people who have not been vaccinated.

“On Monday, I enjoyed the experience of getting tested with WREN on the Green,” Elicker said. ​“It took a little while to get enough saliva to go into the tube, but it is a lot more comfortable than sticking something up your nose. It was fast and easy.”

With the city opening up additional vaccination pop-up clinics, Health Director Maritza Bond said, there has been a slight uptick of people getting vaccinated.

​“I think overall the city has seen an increase each week,” Bond said.

Carla Pero rolled into the parking lot a quarter before noon in hopes to still get tested before the site closed. She was horrified to see the long line; she said that she wanted to get tested in time for Christmas and being around her family.

Pero said she previously drove by the testing site on Legion Avenue near Career High School. She said the line was backed up all the way to Sherman Avenue. Before the Omicron variant, there was often little to no wait there. 

“I mean since this all began, I’ve never seen it that bad,” Pero said. ​“I don’t feel as scared because of the vaccines, but I do think anti-vaxxers, without a clear medical exemption, should be fined and should be made to stay in their homes. The virus is just going to keep mutating and spreading until people get vaccinated.”

Pero is fully vaccinated and boosted herself. She was willing to sit in the line and wait after she couldn’t find any rapid tests at CVS or Walgreens. She said it’s people’s civic responsibility to test themselves on a regular basis.

“I’m going to go home later and search in other areas for at-home Covid testing tests,” Pero said. ​“I think that home tests are the real answer, especially for breakthrough cases. A lot of the time you don’t even feel sick but you might have been near someone who has the virus.”

Donald Brown was one of the last drivers to pull into the site Wednesday. He saw a show last week in New York where someone in the theater tested positive and put everyone there at risk. He found out about the Long Wharf site through a robocall from Mayor Elicker to residents. Brown plans on traveling this holiday season, so he knew it would be best to play it safe.

“I didn’t encounter anybody that closely,” Brown said. ​“But there were enough red flags where I knew that I should get tested.”

Brown is vaccinated. At one point he considered leaving once he realized the line wrapped around the entire parking lot, but then he decided to stay when he compared his experience to his daughter’s from Queens, N.Y.

“She had to stand in line for four hours,” Brown reflected. ​“I thought about it and was like, ​‘Okay, I can deal with this.’ If this was a four-hour line, I don’t know if I would do it.”