• March 29th, 2024
  • Friday, 09:23:59 AM

Colorado Adds Free Rapid At-Home Tests to Community Distribution Locations


Photo: AdobeStock Colorado will distribute 2 million free Rapid-At-Home tests.

 

The state of Colorado expanded the free Rapid At-Home testing program to include a community distribution model for rapid COVID-19 tests. The program will leverage many of the 437 community partners that have helped the state distribute more than 4.1 million masks and includes hundreds of libraries, fire stations, and other community sites across the state. A listing of these locations can be found on the state’s website. This added distribution supplements the existing program which allows Coloradans to sign up for free test kits to be shipped directly to them.

“Testing is an important tool for slowing disease transmission and we are grateful to our community partners who are helping us increase access to free rapid COVID-19 tests,” said Scott Bookman, COVID-19 Incident Commander. “By utilizing community partners to distribute tests like they did with the free mask program, we are able to add to the 2 million free Rapid-At-Home tests we have already distributed to Coloradans and further increase access to rapid testing.”

The tests being distributed as part of this newest program are iHealth Labs over-the-counter COVID-19 Antigen rapid tests. They take 15 minutes to provide a result and instructions are included on the box in English and available online in Spanish. Once a test result is available, an individual should review these instructions on how to interpret and report the results.

The at-home testing program complements other tools in CDPHE’s COVID-19 toolbox, including in-school screening testing, free community testing sites, and other point-of-care testing programs. These programs help ensure Coloradans have access to multiple free COVID-19 testing options. Through ongoing testing, Coloradans can help slow the spread of COVID-19.

While testing is an important tool, vaccines are the most effective way to slow the spread of COVID-19 and its variants and to help avoid the worst outcomes (severe illness, hospitalization, and death) among those who do become infected. State health officials stress that all Coloradans ages 5 and older should get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. Coloradans should get a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to ensure the highest level of  protection against the virus if they:

-Are 12 or older and received their second dose of Pfizer at least five months ago.

-Are 18 or older and received their second dose of Moderna at least five months ago.

A full list of weekly COVID-19 vaccine clinics across the state can be found here. These clinics are in addition to the more than 1900 vaccine providers in Colorado.

Continue to stay up to date by visiting covid19.colorado.gov.

 

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