Sara Benzinger spent her Thursday morning hunting for a rapid COVID-19 test.
“He (my son) just woke up with a cough this morning and we’d rather be safe than sorry,” said Benzinger, a Bethel resident as she stood in the parking lot of the CVS in Newtown with her 6-year-old son, Levi, and her 4-year-old daughter, Ivy.
She tried the PhysicianOne Urgent Care in Newtown, but the facility was booked up for walk-ins until 11 a.m. The Walgreens, CVS and Big Y in Newtown didn’t have rapid tests either, she said. She had been texting her mom who is a nurse in Waterbury.
“She doesn’t even know where to get one,” said Benzinger, adding she planned to return to the urgent care again or try to get one through Bethel schools, which received a shipment this past week.
It’s a problem many in the Danbury area have faced in recent weeks, despite the hundreds of thousands of test kits that were shipped to the state in late December. COVID cases and exposures have risen dramatically, with Danbury recording 1,346 new cases from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3 — almost double the number of cases the prior week and far greater than any week ever.
The city is working with the state to bolster testing in Danbury after seeing long lines at its site run by SEMA4.
“This is important,” said Matthew Cassavechia, emergency management director. “We’re learning more and more that this is a regional site and while it lives in the geographic area of the city of Danbury, we’re seeing traffic and comers from people outside of the city of Danbury.”
The News-Times visited 14 stores in four towns on Thursday, but only two — Stew Leonard’s and Main Street Pharmacy in Danbury — had rapid COVID test kits.
Other stores said they sold out the day before or haven’t been able to get a shipment for as long as two months.
Where there are (not) tests
The CVS on Queen Street in Newtown, where Benzinger tried to find a kit, sold its last Flowflex kit, which includes one test, on Wednesday, said Ray Correa, the manager there.
“Literally the minute we get it —” Correa said, snapping his fingers to indicate how quickly the kits go.
He puts out one kit at a time because they were getting stolen, he said.
“It’s been difficult unfortunately,” Correa said.
He was told on a conference call that more kits were on their way, but he doesn’t know when — perhaps that day or the next, he said.
One shipment the other day included 200 kits with two tests, while the most recent shipment included 300 kits with one test in each. When he was manager at the CVS in Danbury, he once received 500 kits, but has heard of other stores getting more.
“It varies unfortunately,” he said. “One day it can be a lot. One day it can be a little.”
The Stew Leonard’s in Danbury, however, sold antigen rapid test kits from the customer service desk for $14.99. The store had a limit of five per customer. One woman with a young boy purchased a kit.
Another customer said she wanted to buy one when she was done shopping. The employee told her they’d have kits when she came back — but they could be gone by the end of the day.
The store received a shipment of kits on Thursday with one test per box, spokeswoman Meghan Bell said.
“It’s estimated that we have a few hundred of those left to sell,” she said early Friday afternoon. “The Danbury store is also expecting a shipment later today [Friday] of tests which will contain two tests per box; we anticipate that Stew’s in Danbury will have a few hundred of those tests available for sale.”
A sign outside Main Street Pharmacy in Danbury advertised that rapid tests were available, but urged customers to use the drive-thru for faster service. Questions were directed to a manager who couldn’t be reached for comment.
At the Stop & Shop on Newtown Road in Danbury, the pharmacy well advertises its lack of test kits.
“Attention!!! We’re SOLD OUT of COVID-19 self test kits,” a hand-written sign reads. “Sorry…we don’t know when they’ll restock.”
In fact, the pharmacy hasn’t had any test kits for two months.
“We can’t (order more). Our wholesaler doesn’t have anything,” said Aprille Santola, staff pharmacist.
She said the pharmacy gets 10 to 30 calls a day from customers looking for its.
“It’s (a) majority of phone calls,” Santola said.
At the Walgreens on South Main Street in Newtown, four types of COVID tests, even the $124.99 Everlywell home swab kit, were sold out. A manager directed questions to Walgreens media relations.
The Walgreens on Federal Road was sold out, too. An employee told a customer who asked that the store expects to get more over the weekend.
The customer told Hearst he’s been asking pharmacies if they have one when he goes to the store. Even the Walgreens he stopped into while skiing in Vermont didn’t have one, but he said his friend found one at a pharmacy in Ridgefield.
An empty shelf of $19.88 BinaxNOW test kits was by the pharmacy at the Walmart in Danbury. The RiteAid on Germantown Road in Danbury doesn’t have any kits either.
ShopRite in Brookfield sold out of tests about 1 1/2 to two weeks ago, said John Turchiano, the department manger for health and beauty aid.
The store got about 600 last time and they were gone in less than a day, he said.
“Before New Year’s, every phone call we got was about it,” he said.
Despite a sign at the customer service booth saying they’re sold out, patrons will still come up and ask, the employee at the booth said.
Turchiano doesn’t know when the store will get another shipment.
“They keep pushing them back,” he said.
The BigY Pharmacy in Bethel had three signs that said “We are out of home COVID test kits.” The pharmacist directed questions to media relations.
Down the road, the CVS Pharmacy within the Target in Bethel had two signs that read “At home COVID-19 tests are currently out of stock. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
But the pharmacist said, in fact, the location doesn’t sell them at all.
CTown Supermarkets on North Street in Danbury doesn’t sell them either.
“We don’t know where to get them,” said Jose Carnale, store manager.
The CVS on Federal Road in Brookfield had signs at the door, register and empty shelf that it was “sold out of all kinds of at-home COVID tests. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Signs on the empty shelf indicated they had two types, BinaxNOW and QuickVue.
Melvyn Marrero, the manager at the CVS on White Street in Danbury, said “every single question I get, every single call I get” is about test kits.
“That’s pretty much the daily struggle with COVID,” he said.
He tries to do a special order for test kits, but this week didn’t get any. He suspects that could be because the state received hundreds of thousands to distribute to communities.
“They same day they come in, they go,” Marrero said.
His store has multiple signs at the door and inside indicating that it doesn’t have the kits. He tries to direct customers to stores he’s heard have them.
“Everybody is looking for these test kits,” Marrero said.
