Monroe County to receive thousands of at-home COVID-19 test kits on Wednesday

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — This weekend some of you will be able to get those free at-home testing kits right in your own community.

This is all part of the Biden administration plan to distribute 50 million tests to community sites and rural clinics. Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said the only way for this to work to its full potential is for each town to have a plan.

“Each of the towns in the city of Rochester are going to do it differently. They are going to use different distribution networks throughout the county,” Bello said.

Bello said on Wednesday the 750,000 rapid tests are expected to arrive and will be split between municipalities and schools.

“Five-hundred thousand tests can be used community-wide to anyone and 250,000 have to be earmarked to school-aged children,” Biden said.

Some of those towns are preparing for distribution this weekend.

“[We’re] excited about getting them, yeah I think this is a good thing,” Chili Town Supervisor David Dunning said. “Especially ahead of the holidays where there will be larger family group gatherings and things like that."

Dunning said their plan is simple but efficient.

“We are going to be over at our new community center over at 3237 Chili Ave. We’re going to set up a table in the lobby and have all the test kits with us there we will ask people to come in, show proof of residency and we will give one kit per person who is in attendance,” Dunning said.

Dunning said while towns are only getting enough tests for about half of their residents, some are better than nothing.

“These kits are available for purchase at CVS, Walgreens, Wegmans and things like that but this provides perhaps for people can’t necessarily afford to go buy those kits,” Dunning said.

Bello said the message behind these is to "flood the system" to help as many as possible.

“An undertaking like this is very difficult for the county to manage on its own,” Bello said. “We need to do this as a community just like we’ve done through every step of the pandemic and this is just another example of everyone working together.”

Other towns are starting to give out tests this weekend.

Bello said the county will announce a final plan Wednesday.

To report a positive test in Monroe County, click here.