Two days after announcing that it was conducting free drive-thru testing for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a nonprofit in West Palm Beach had to halt new visits after it was overrun by demand and quickly ran out of testing supplies.
The surge in traffic to FoundCare, a federally qualified healthcare center, came despite limitations on who could show up for testing, which included a prescheduled appointment and screening questions about health risk factors and travel history. It overwhelmed the small nonprofit not because the center did not have the staffing, but because it did not have enough personal protective gear or the swab kits used to collect specimens.
Yolette Bonnet, the CEO of FoundCare, told the Herald the testing site began operations Monday and saw more than 60 people, but quickly realized she had to halt new appointments as supplies ran low and there appeared to be no help on the way to replenish them.
