Photo Essay | 2022: new year, new pandemic life
The Panther compiled a photo essay that chronicles the surge in COVID-19 testing accompanying the transition into the new year.
Students await COVID-19 testing Jan. 6 at Chapman’s Orange clinic. Lines have increased in the wake of a late December announcement from President Daniele Struppa that all students must receive two negative tests and a booster shot to return to campus. Photos by DANIEL PEARSON, Photo Editor
The line outside of the testing center stretched an entire block, far beyond the Student Health Center, mid-day Jan. 6. To mitigate long wait times, Chapman’s Student Health Center is implementing a 24 hour camera stationed across the street from the testing site. Viewers are able to determine the best time to get tested by checking the live feed.
“Helpful hint: lines tend to be longest at 7 a.m. when we open and right after lunch at 1 p.m.,” said Dean of Students Jerry Price in an Instagram post announcing the live webcam two days prior.
The historic, white church at 145 Sycamore Ave. is now better known as Chapman’s own on-campus testing center. The site, in conjunction with Chapman’s testing location at the Rinker Health Science campus, saw over 4,000 students seeking tests in the first two days of interterm alone, according to Price.
Long lines of anxious customers plague local CVS stores amid the COVID-19 Omicron outbreak, prompting at-home rapid tests to completely sell out mere days after they hit the shelves. The CVS store next to the Trader Joe’s in the Village At Orange displays signs at the registers warning customers about limited supply of testing kits.
In the wake of scarcity, some have sought desperate measures, turning to online resellers to purchase these kits at an extreme mark-up price. “Please beware, and only buy tests through authorized retailers (so) you can ensure the integrity of your test,” Washington DC Attorney General Karl Raccine tweeted.
A healthcare worker administers a COVID-19 rapid test at the MainPlace Mall drive-thru testing site — one of the many drive-thru testing sites available in Orange County. Covid Clinic, the organization conducting the COVID-19 tests, allows individuals to locate the drive-thru clinics closest to them through their website.
Vehicles brimming with passengers begin to accumulate at the testing site, forming a line that extends past the mall parking lot and out onto Main Street during the first week of 2022. Unlike Chapman’s campus clinics which offer walk-in service, these drive-thru alternatives often require appointments to be scheduled in advance.
A student walks across a barren street toward a packed sidewalk occupied by Chapman students waiting to a long line outside of Chapman’s Orange campus testing center.