WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Hospital systems in the Triad are urging people not to visit the emergency room to be checked for COVID-19.

“Large numbers of people are going to hospital emergency departments for COVID-19 tests,” according to a news release Thursday from Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Cone Health and Novant Health.

Hospital representatives said that emergency departments are already crowded, and that visits for coronavirus testing are causing delays.

The number of positive COVID cases has spiked in North Carolina during the holiday season.

Data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services showed 18,571 positive cases were reported Thursday, which is nearly double the 9,377 cases reported Wednesday.

Health officials have urged people to limit holiday celebrations and to get tested before attending gatherings, in an effort to contain the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.

In anticipation of the holidays, the Guilford County Division of Public Health made available at-home testing kits last week. 

The Triad hospital systems urged people who need to be tested for travel, or return to work or school to visit the state’s online test site finder.