As coronavirus cases continue to spike in California, at-home tests are flying off store shelves.
The four different CVS locations KSBY checked out plus a local pharmacy in Atascadero, all confirmed they do have at-home tests in stock but they are seeing an increase in purchasing.
"I had a gentleman come in yesterday and buy a dozen. I had 24 yesterday. I have 12 today," said En Soleil Pharmacist Scott Guess.
According to Tom Cuddy at the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department, that can be attributed to heightened concern over the virus as transmission peaks throughout the community.
"The fact of the matter is a lot of community members are out and about right now, if you look at the Mid-State Fair to concerts in the park and whatnot," Cuddy said.
On Wednesday, San Luis Obispo County reported 443 new COVID-19 cases since last week.
In May, the government announced a third wave of free COVID-19 tests available for order. Those are offered on the covid.gov website.
Locally, public testing sites are still up and running as well.
"We have PCR testing at our free community testing sites in San Luis Obispo, Grover Beach and Paso," Cuddy said.
According to experts, you can never be too careful. With the BA.5 variant being highly contagious and not showing as many symptoms, it’s the incubation period that could sneak up on you.
"If you go to a concert Friday night and you test yourself Sunday before you go to work, it's not really going to tell you what you want to know," Guess explained.
If you have recently been exposed, which at the very least means in the same room as someone for 15 minutes, Guess says you should test on day five. The day of exposure being day zero.