Jessica Haley administers COVID tests at the Fairweather drive-through site on Lake Otis Parkway in Anchorage on June 15, 2022. Fairweather stopped testing uninsured people after federal funding ran out in March. Haley says it’s been hard to turn people away.
“I just refer them to the at-home testing kits,” she said. “And a lot of employers aren’t accepting those because they want the PCR tests.” What’s happening at Fairweather is part of a larger trend — the public testing and treatment options that have become staples in the last two years are shifting to the private health care industry.Capstone has operated three COVID testing sites in Anchorage and others in Eagle River, Wasilla, Kenai, North Pole, Ketchikan and Juneau — but not for much longer. All Capstone sites will close on June 30.
“Since that program has ended, and the volume of testing is dropping off significantly — we went from 3,000 tests a day to 200 tests a day — it became financially unsustainable for us,” he said.