Supply Scarce, Demand High For At-Home Rapid COVID Tests

DENVER (CBS4)- A lot of people are searching for at-home rapid COVID-19 tests as wait times for PCR tests top one hour in the Denver metro area and sometimes results are delayed for days due to the increased demand.

Dr. Kristin Holmes is an owner and pharmacist at Capitol Heights Pharmacy in Denver, "These COVID-19 tests are in such high demand I can't explain to you how insane it is."

She gets them in stock, notifies her customers, and then quickly they are gone.

"I sent out the text about 1:15, by 10 p.m. we had sold 500 tests," Dr. Holmes said.

The demand for the tests is so strong, a sort of "black market" is appearing online. People sell them on Craigslist, sometimes at up to twice the normal price.

And there is competition among stores to get ahold of the at-home antigen rapid tests from their wholesalers.

"Like, how can we get some tests, how many, what brand are they."

Customers grab them when they can. Andrew Ross picked up four boxes with two tests each. Each box cost $32.

"I've been checking online they are hard to come by so when I got the text, I jumped on it," Ross said.

Capitol Heights is expecting to have 1,500 boxes of tests and plan to sit outside at 12th and Madison in Denver on Saturday, Jan. 15, selling them until they run out. Business is so brisk there they are seeking another certified pharmacy technician.