Morgan Sexton waited nearly three and a half hours at the Nomi Health drive-through clinic in Oak View Mall on Friday.

“I’ve never waited in a line like this,” Sexton said.

Sexton waited with hundreds of others who want to know if they have COVID-19.

“I liked it better when they had dates. When you had dates you could come on your time and (there was) no line,” Sexton said.

“It’s all of a sudden now that the demand has skyrocketed,” said Chris Rodgers, chairman of the Douglas County Board of Health.

Rodgers said the commission was looking for ways to ease the pressure of testing and now knew that getting state help was not an option.

“I don’t know if they should bring Test Nebraska back, but I think it’s not the only county to manage. It has never been the only county to manage,” he said.

But Gov. Pete Ricketts said Thursday it was no longer the state’s responsibility to provide testing and suggested local governments use American Rescue Plan Act money for more sites.

“If the counties want more tests, they have the money to go out and spend it on getting more tests,” Ricketts said.

“I don’t see this as a local problem, it’s a statewide problem,” said Douglas County Commission Chairman Mary Ann Borgeson. She said the county had spent $ 5 million of ARPA’s $ 55.4 million on public health and that testing was included.

“We have almost daily conversations about where and what we could do to open additional sites,” she said.

Borgeson said they can’t go fast enough but try to do their best with the resources they have.

Rodgers said it wasn’t that simple.

“Right now staffing is the capacity of hospitals, where do we find nurses and other people to be able to do that? ” He asked.

Rodgers says local health departments need to have local control.

“We can’t do anything else on our own that we want to do,” he said. “If so, give us the power to do the mask warrant.” ”

Commissioner Maureen Boyle said there needs to be a federal and state initiative, as well as a local initiative to vaccinate, mask and test the community.

“I am frustrated that his (Ricketts’) inaction is undermining the efforts of the medical community to control the pandemic,” Boyle said. “He has access to over $ 1 billion in ARPA funds available for the state of Nebraska, and he has the power to make a difference in the pandemic. Testing needs to be expanded, not vary from county to county. the other.”

Commissioners also said the need for testing could ease if more people get vaccinated.