In Boston, New York or even in California, the scenes recalled those of the first wave of contamination, almost two years ago.

This time it is the fifth.

In the heart of the American capital, the free test site set up every day in the open air had not seen such a crowd for a long time: the queue goes all around a downtown square, until 'to small white tents.

About two weeks ago, 150 tests were done here every morning.

Monday, it was 600 and this Tuesday, we should reach 800. Additional staff had to be recruited.

Michael Lehman, 56, waited just over 40 minutes, which he considers "pretty quick".

A positive case has been reported from those around him and he wants to make sure he does not pass the virus on to his children, who are due to visit him from California for the holidays.

If he should receive the verdict in time for New Years Eve, the results of the PCR tests done here will certainly not arrive today.

Which makes some people piss off.

“I have to go home today,” South Carolina, said Leah Kovach, 22, who began to experience symptoms last night.

"I tried to make an appointment but they were all taken so here I am," said the young woman, who was therefore forced to take a day off.

A queue in front of a fire station where tests against the Covid-19 are carried out, in Washington on December 20, 2021 ROBERTO SCHMIDT AFP

With her single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, she says she is "a little worried" after hearing that its effectiveness was very poor against Omicron, now the majority in the country.

Finding an antigen test in Washington these days is an obstacle course: drugstore appointments are crowded, self-test shelves desperately empty.

"We looked online to buy tests to do at home but they are sold out everywhere in the city," confirms Ellen Harrison, 75, who therefore expects a cap on her head by 3 ° C.

She went to a pharmacy that claimed to have some, only to leave empty-handed.

In the afternoon, US President Joe Biden is due to announce the government's purchase of 500 million rapid tests.

They can be ordered online ... from January.

© 2021 AFP