Had trouble getting tested for COVID or making a doctor’s appointment? Tell us about it

With omicron spreading quickly throughout Idaho, many health care providers are seeing record demand for testing — and record numbers of positive cases. Many Idahoans seeking medical care are having trouble making appointments because of the overwhelming demand at clinics.

At the Idaho Statesman, we’d like your help telling the story of omicron.

The state’s test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that come back positive, rose to 25.7% the week of Jan. 2 — the highest rate of the pandemic. At Primary Health Medical Group, a major primary care provider in the Treasure Valley, 46.7% of tests administered last week came back positive.

Getting an appointment for a test in the Boise area has become more difficult, with multi-day wait times for appointment availability at some locations and lags in receiving test results.

Rapid tests, which are less accurate than PCR tests but can provide results within minutes, may even be harder to find. Many local pharmacies are completely sold out of the tests, and online retailers’ stocks often are on back order.

As part of our ongoing coverage of omicron, the Statesman has been providing readers with coverage of what’s going on at local hospitals and primary care providers. We’d like to tell the story of testing shortages too, but we need your help. Have you had trouble getting a test in the last few weeks? Have you or a loved one been exposed to COVID-19, but been unable to quickly find a test when you needed one?

Or, have you had a non-emergency doctor’s appointment canceled recently? Have you tried to make an appointment — or visited an urgent care — and been told you’d have to wait a long time?

If so, fill out this survey, and help us continue to tell the story of this pandemic.