LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Citing what he called a "frightening surge" in COVID-19 cases, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer hailed the opening of a new mass testing site at Churchill Downs on Monday morning.
Officials said there were already 150 cars in line at 7 a.m. Monday, an hour before the testing site opened. The site is part of a partnership between Metro Louisville, Churchill Downs and Bluewater Diagnostic Laboratory, and is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays.
"If we have learned anything, it is to stay humble to this virus," Fischer said. "We want to be done with it, but clearly, it is not done with us.
"So we wanted to adapt. And this site here at Churchill Downs is a perfect example of how we can adapt and meet new challenges that are caused by the virus, with the help of great partners."
The move comes as health officials said the number of positive cases in Louisville is skyrocketing thanks to the omicron variant.Â
"We continue to set records with COVID case counts every day," said Dr. Sarahbeth Hartlage, associate medical director for Louisville's health department. "The numbers are really unfathomably high at this point."
James Flourney and Connie Sullivan were two of the first to get tested. Sullivan said she recently showed symptoms, and both believed they were exposed at work and aren't getting paid until they return a negative test..
"You're not allowed to come back to work until you have a negative," Sullivan said. "I did go to like two or three other places, and they were all out of tests until Wednesday or Thursday."
In the last seven days, Hartlage said the city identified 16,287 new cases, yielding an incidence rate of 303 cases per 100,000 of the population.Â
"And our testing positivity rate is 32%," she said. "Those are all record-high numbers."
Hartlage stressed that those figures only incorporated positive cases identified via PCR testing, not antigen tests.
"Even though our case numbers are record-breakingly high, the actual number is almost certainly higher than that," she said.
As of Monday morning, Hartlage said 372 patients were in the hospital due to COVID-19. Of that number, 79 required care in the ICU.
More than 34,000 people had been tested for COVID-19 in Metro Louisville in the past seven days, Hartlage said.
It's high demand that Dina English, vice president of sales and marketing for Bluewater, hopes that the new Churchill Downs testing site can help to meet.Â
English said the site will administer PCR tests to anyone who comes, whether they are covered by health insurance or not. Those not covered by health insurance will be paid for via the federal government. Registration is required, as is a social security card or proof of insurance, if you have it.
To register for testing, click here.
The results of PCR tests will be made available within 48-72 hours, English said. Rapid tests are available but are reserved only for Metro employees and K-12 testing.
By 10 a.m., English said roughly 300-400 people had already been tested at the Churchill Downs site.
"The science is still early and some people are saying that omicron is proving to generally cause milder symptoms, but the numbers are so big in terms of case counts that, unfortunately, deaths usually follow three weeks or so after that," Fischer said. "So we're just really holding our breath and hoping for the best as it relates to that. But nevertheless, this is really a frightening surge for everybody here in our city."
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