SAN DIEGO — San Diego County COVID testing sites were packed with people Sunday after the sites were closed for the New Year’s holiday.

County health officials urged San Diegans to keep new year celebrations small after a rise in omicron cases the last two weeks. The county reported over 5,000 positive cases just before the holiday.

Hundreds waited in line in Encanto to get a PCR COVID test after feeling ill the last few days.

“I thought I should come in and get tested because I couldn’t smell garlic and I couldn’t taste it, and I couldn’t smell my cologne, either,” said Pharoah Anderson, who waited in line for over an hour.

Anderson says his wife tested positive on New Year’s Eve Day and had to be taken to the emergency room for her symptoms.

“It’s hard to find a place that is open Sunday, everything is usually Monday through Thursday or Monday through Friday or Saturday,” Anderson said.

Many of those waiting in line were getting tested before going back to work or school after the holiday weekend.

“I have to go back to work really soon and I don’t want to expose my colleagues or anybody else,” Gabriella Sosa said.

Sosa says she was exposed to the virus recently and woke up with a sore throat, which prompted her to come to the free county testing site.

“I was with her during Christmas time, and then she tested positive, so I didn’t know if I was in the incubation period or not,” she said.

Sosa is one of the hundreds of San Diegans wanting to confirm if they have the coronavirus before exposing others.

“You don’t want to feel guilty if you’re going around asymptomatic or even with a few symptoms that you think is a cold and spreading it to other people,” she said.

Only three countywide walk-up testing sites were open Sunday. Residents in North County also joined long lines, waiting for over two hours to get a test before heading back to work or school.

County testing will continue to resume as scheduled on their website.