City hands out free at-home COVID-19 testing kits ahead of holiday gatherings

For the last few weeks, many have been seeing and hearing about the insane lines to get tested for COVID-19, so the city is giving out free testing kits in select locations today.

News 12 Staff

Dec 24, 2021, 4:17 PM

Updated 1,026 days ago

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For the last few weeks, many have been seeing and hearing about the insane lines to get tested for COVID-19, so the city is giving out free testing kits in select locations today.
To try to make things easier, the city is giving out free at-home testing kits Friday in a few locations, including the corner of Church Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, as well as in the Bronx at the corner of East Fordham Road and East Kingsbridge Road.
The rise in testing is due to both the combination of the surge in cases due to Omicron and many wanting to make sure they don't have COVID-19 before getting together with their families for the holiday weekend.
Both spots became active at 9 a.m., but some people were standing at the sites as early as 7:15 a.m. The line stretched around the corner.
Everyone is attendance is expected to receive the Binax tests, which are usually between $14 and $25 to buy a pack of two.
Each site is stocked with about 2,000 test kits.
They say it only takes 15 minutes to receive results, which is quicker than getting a PCR test. Studies show it is about 85% accurate.
With family gatherings just hours away, programs like this from the city are a huge help.
There is no word yet on how long the test distributions will run.