DALLAS — There is a shortage of at-home COVID test kits in DFW. 

What You Need To Know

  • At-home COVID test kits are running low in North Texas

  • Some testing sites do not have available appointments for days

  • A pharmacist who is currently sold out said it is due to the holiday surge

  • The pharmacist suggests checking online for tests, at stores such as Amazon

Texas pharmacist Sean Pazoki spends a lot of his day giving vaccines. Dougherty’s Pharmacy in Dallas typically does around 50 shots a day for kids and adults.

“But we’re easily pushing 150 a day now,” Pazoki said. “There’s been a really big surge.”

Pazoki said theres a bigger demand for at-home COVID tests than COVID vaccines. Dougherty’s Pharmacy is currently sold out. 

“We have zero right now,” he said. “They’re really hard to find.”

Nearly every pharmacy and retailer in the DFW Metroplex is also sold out, according to 10 North Texans currently quarantined in different parts of DFW. Of those 10 Texans, seven of them had major problems getting a test right away. Five of them were not able to get tested over a three-day period. Those five are making the decision to self-quarantine, due to exposure and symptoms, until they can get a test with a negative or positive result.

“I’ve seen some success on Amazon. Walmart seems to get them in stock from time to time,” Pazoki said. “I would just advise patients to call around.”

Eleana Muraz had no luck calling around. She was trying to find a rapid test or at-home test kit, but the nearest test of any kind was over in Fort Worth.

“We’re from Arlington and it really sucks that everybody is running out,” Muraz said. “We called around to many places. But this one, they said, was going to be a lab one. It’s going to take a few days for us to get the results. It was the only thing available, basically.

She has tested positive for COVID before, and she is fully vaccinated. She said appointments for rapid and PCR tests are hard to come by as well.

“I’m feeling symptoms and I don’t want to go to work because I don’t want to get anybody sick,” Muraz said. “We’re just trying to do the right thing. That’s why we tried so hard to get tested.”

Many testing sites in DFW are by appointment only, and do not have any available slots for days.

“Seems to be the unfortunate thing right now is, by the time you actually get a test, you’re probably clear anyways,” Pazoki said.

Pazoki attributes the surge of needing COVID tests to the holidays, requirements to fly, travel, attend events, or even families prioritizing safety at holiday gatherings.

“It’s just the influx of everyone needing a test mixed with the variant omicron, moving as quickly as it is,” Pazoki said. “So many people are infected. I personally know five to 10 people who have caught it.”

He recommends buying a couple of tests, once stores are replenished, to save for the next major holiday.

“It’s just like toilet paper all over again,” Pazoki joked.