COVID-19 testing wasn't where it needed to be. Then Omicron hit.

The U.S. was already struggling in recent months with limited supplies of rapid, at-home tests and long turnaround times for lab-based tests when the number of COVID-19 infections remained either relatively flat or was only slowly inching upward.

Now, manufacturers of over-the-counter test kits and labs that process more sensitive polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests, cannot keep pace with demand, as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads rapidly, winter weather strikes and families prepare to gather for the holiday season. These days, long lines of pedestrians queued up along sidewalks or motorists sitting bumper to bumper in parking lots for hours mean one thing: They are waiting for COVID-19 tests.

The Biden Administration acknowledged earlier this year it needed to ramp up the nation's testing efforts, and pledged to make tests cheaper and more widely available by investing $1 billion to expand the supply of at-home COVID-19 tests. But there still are not enough tests to go around as of mid-December. Just ask anyone who has tried to get their hands on an Abbot Labs or Quidel test kit — two popular varieties — in recent days and has struck out at multiple major pharmacies across New York City's five boroughs and beyond.