SEATTLE — King County announced a purchase of 300,000 COVID-19 home testing kits for King County residents on Tuesday.
King County Executive Dow Constantine said the first 100,000 kits are scheduled to arrive on the week of Jan. 10, with the remaining shipments following shortly after.
“Having test results in minutes, not hours, is an important part of keeping people safe and healthy during this surge of cases. These kits will help residents make swifter and more informed decisions on how to prevent further infections and know whether to stay home,” said Constantine. “We know the demand for tests has increased in recent weeks and supplies are constrained, and more help is on the way from the federal and state governments. But we can’t wait. These kits will help us add capacity to our existing testing network and help communities hardest hit by the pandemic.”
The county is working to secure more kits but has only confirmed the initial 300,000.
Distribution of the testing kits will be made available to communities in most need.
Public Health plans to get the tests to community-based organizations, community health centers, senior centers, libraries and other areas as soon as the supply arrives.
King County has also distributed 1.6 million high-quality masks since mid-December, and additional masks will be distributed with the testing kits.
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