HILLIARD, Ohio — The State of Ohio’s testing problem is not going away any time soon. The Department of Health said 400,000 tests are on the way, but they’re prioritizing schools and colleges with the next round of shipments.
The state said an additional 800,000 tests that have been ordered have been delayed. Places like libraries and local health departments will have to wait.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library in Hilliard is completely out of testing kits. In fact, all the metropolitan libraries are.
10TV spoke with Harold Boone while he was at the library.
“I've seen the outside that when the cars pull up, they had to put together an assembly line. The people were coming in so fast to get the kits,” he said.
We also spoke with Molly Wiley and her son Owen at the library.
"It shows the impact and the significance of the pandemic itself,” she said.
The Library Branch Manager Amy McLanahan said the last shipment of tests came last week.
"We usually get around 2,000 when we get a shipment in,” she said.
Under three hours after they got that shipment, they were all gone. McLanahan said system-wide, the libraries have given out more than 200,000 tests.
"Previously we would have kits and we would have them in stock all the time. There is such a demand and a need for these kits, I mean, they're very important,” McLanahan said. "We definitely support that and we are so happy that we've gotten all the test kits that we have over the last year, and just hope to get more soon.”
The Ohio Department of Health said it expects to receive the rest of the shipment sometime later this month. Its testing team will try to give tests to as many schools as supplies will allow.