‘We have to do better’: Massachusetts residents shiver in frigid cold for hours to get COVID tests, officials seek more testing sites amid omicron ‘log jam’

Bay Staters are having their patience tested to kick off the year as thousands of people on Monday waited in massive lines — some shivering in the bitter cold for hours — to get tested for COVID amid the omicron surge.

As sites get overwhelmed following the holidays, local officials are pleading with Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to add more locations to address the coronavirus testing “log jam.”

Boston’s Laura Everett was in one of those COVID test lines that stretched longer than the most popular rides at Disney World. She stood outside Dorchester’s Prince Hall site for nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes on Monday, while it felt like 18 degrees. In total, it took her 3 hours and 25 minutes to get tested.

“We have to do better than this,” said Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.

“Credit goes out to the volunteers who were helping to manage this, but it’s not a great situation,” she later added. “Nobody is in an especially good mood when you’re standing for two hours out in the cold. That’s really a lot to ask of anyone, especially when people are anxious and scared, and when you have young kids and elders.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she was meeting with her team to “make sure we are tackling the problem of hours-long lines.”

“This is unacceptable,” Wu said. “There’s no reason why in this city, people should be waiting for hours in the cold to do something that is necessary for their families’ health and safety.”

City officials are exploring a two-pronged approach that includes more testing sites and ways to make lines move faster.

There were extremely long lines in all parts of the state on Monday, including in Worcester, Brockton and Springfield.