A sign points to the Bloomington OptumServe testing site. (George Hale, WFIU/WTIU News)
Jason Nickey has been trying for a month to get tested for COVID-19.
“The first two appointments were canceled. I got notices that day that they were canceled that morning,” Nickey said Wednesday. “The third one, which would have been last week, I didn't get any notice at all.”
Nickey’s appointments were scheduled at a COVID-19 testing site at the national guard armory south of Bloomington.
“I went there and it was completely abandoned, desolate. Like all the material was out there sort of like a movie set of props that everyone just sort of walked away from,” he said.
“I waited for a long time, didn't see anyone official. There were three other people there who came to get a test ... They were all as confused as I was.”
The site appeared all but abandoned earlier this week, too.
READ MORE: COVID-19 Test Canceled? In Bloomington, You Can Still Get Tested
During one visit, a parked car was the only sign of human activity — aside from bright orange signs and banners advertising tests, with arrows pointing to a vacant lot.
Health officials are blaming heat for the last-minute cancellations.
They say staff members covered in protective gear can’t spend too much time in the sun.
If it gets hot, they leave.
The Monroe County health administrator said Tuesday that the COVID-19 testing site was undergoing upgrades to avoid more cancelled appointments.
“They have been closing early due to the heat,” Penny Caudill said.
“Now we have worked with the state and arranged for a portable air conditioning (unit) to be forthcoming,” Caudill said. “So, that should be there by the end of the week. And hopefully that will correct the heat issue.”
READ MORE: Officials Hope Portable AC Unit Will Resolve COVID-19 Testing Woes
The AC plan is the latest attempt to bring the site up to speed without putting staff at risk.
“They had added some additional staff thinking that perhaps if they got more breaks that they might be able to withstand the heat,” she said. “Because you can imagine you get all that PPE on and you've got high temperatures and high humidity, it gets pretty miserable.”
OptumServe and its subsidiary Logistics Health Incorporated run this site.
The state awarded OptumServe a nearly $18 million dollar contract this spring. It aimed to open 50 testing sties around the state and provide 100,000 free tests per month.
But it’s fallen short of those goals. It only has about 35 sites, and it took OptumServe four months to run the number of tests it had set out to run in a single month.
But Despite the delays and cancellations, Caudill says the Bloomington site is actually performing relatively well.
“They have been doing well over the number of anticipated tests per day. So even with closing at 2 or 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon instead of 8 (p.m.), they have still done well over the anticipated number of tests per day,” she said.
READ MORE: Here's Where You Can Get Tested For COVID-19 In Monroe County
Bloomington’s site is scheduled to be open at least through August, but Caudill says the health department is working out the details for a sit that would operate through the winter.
In the meantime, Nickey says he’ll keep trying to get a test at the Bloomington location.
He comes into contact with a lot of people at his record store so even though he doesn’t have any symptoms – he thinks he should get checked.
“I feel like this is serious enough that it shouldn't take me over a month to get a test at this point in the pandemic," Nickey said.
“We should figure this out. The stakes are way too high.”
A spokesperson for Optum, the parent company of OptumServe and its subsidiary Logistics Health Inc., confirmed the site had closed “a few times” due to heat.
“We do reach out to people who have appointments to reschedule when this occurs and have signage posted when this happens,” spokesperson Aaron Albright said.
In early July, the company urged certain people with appointments after the site had closed for heat to walk in earlier on another day to get tested. OptumServe was still asking that people register a time on their website even if they planned to arrive earlier.
At the time, the company said the walk-ins were a temporary solution while it searched for a testing location that was air-conditioned.
Many of the state’s testing sites are either outdoors or in places without air conditioning, such as National Guard armories. This includes the Bloomington location.
Emma Atkinson and Brandon Smith contributed to this report.
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