As COVID-19 cases skyrocket throughout North Carolina, state officials are repeating their usual refrain: get vaccinated, wear a mask and get tested.

But good luck doing the latter.

The state is conducting a record number of tests, officials say, but it’s still not enough to meet demand.

At-home rapid test kits have been nearly impossible to track down at places like CVS and Walgreens, and even if you do manage to find some, they aren’t cheap — they typically cost about $10 to $15 per test.

Even PCR tests, which were relatively accessible prior to the omicron surge, seem to be in short supply right now. It can be difficult to secure same-day testing appointments in the busiest parts of the state, and lines at drive-thru testing sites can be hours long, even with an appointment. Frustrations over long lines may have led one Charlotte man to threaten a StarMed Healthcare worker with a shotgun Wednesday. For those living in more rural areas, testing may be even harder to come by — some county health departments have run out of PCR tests completely.

It’s inconvenient. It’s frustrating. And it’s a disincentive to get tested.

It’s not just a North Carolina problem — the shortage of at-home tests has been felt nationwide. Much of that is a lack of foresight from the federal government; President Joe Biden said recently he wishes he had thought to order millions of free at-home tests two months ago. We agree, and mixed messaging from the CDC on testing, isolation and masking has only made it worse.

Despite the shortage, other states have managed to scale up testing even before the omicron variant posed an urgent threat.

Colorado, for example, has made free at-home rapid test kits available to residents by mail since September, while New Hampshire began distributing them in late November. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced in December the state would distribute 2.1 million rapid at-home tests to cities and towns with the highest percentage of families living below the poverty line. He also negotiated contracts with manufacturers so that municipalities and other eligible entities can purchase cheaper at-home test kits and distribute them to residents.

Such efforts certainly haven’t neutralized the testing shortage, but they do make testing more accessible, one test at a time. Still, none of that seems to be happening in North Carolina. Why not?

“We have seen a record surge in testing demand over the last several days that has strained testing supply nationally and across the state. NCDHHS is working to distribute and secure additional tests from manufacturers to help with the demand,” N.C. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Bailey Pennington said in an email to the Editorial Board.

While PCR tests remain the gold standard, at-home rapid testing is convenient and gives results quickly. It can help people decide whether it’s safe to go to work, school or gather with friends and family — and it can help ease demand for PCR tests, too. The state has partnered with Labcorp to provide no-cost at-home PCR collection kits to residents by mail, but it can take several days to receive a kit, send it back and get results. And only 1,000 tests are available per day, which isn’t enough in a state this size.

Gov. Roy Cooper reassured everyone at a news conference Tuesday that more tests are on the way. Plus, two more at-home tests were recently authorized by the FDA, which should help put more on the market, he said.

But how does the state intend to get those tests into the hands of people who need them? Not everyone can afford to purchase one at the drugstore — and not everyone can afford to spend hours waiting in line.

Testing can help reduce unwanted spread of the virus, but inaccessibility will likely deter even the most cautious people from taking advantage of it. Cooper and his administration should have made testing more accessible months ago, when some other states did. They must be more urgent in doing so now. With omicron still surging, North Carolina needs it.