The Town of West Hartford has received an additional supply of COVID-19 at-home test kits from the state. [Updated, 3:20 p.m.]

By Ronni Newton

Updated: As of 3 p.m., the entire available supply of test kits has been requested according to Bob McCue, the deputy director of the Office of Emergency Operations.

Original story

The Town of West Hartford has received an additional supply of COVID-19 at-home rapid test kits from the state and will be distributed them as soon as possible to residents who are symptomatic and unable to otherwise secure a test kit on their own.

Bob McCue, deputy director of West Hartford’s Office of Emergency Management, said the town has received 4,000 additional kits, and 1,000 of them will be distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis to residents who complete the Test Kit Request form (https://westhartford.seamlessdocs.com/f/requesttest). Once the kits have all been requested, the form will no longer be available.

The remainder of the kits the town has received will be reserved for use by Social Services, the Health District, and will also be available for home-based childcare providers and other similar operations that may not be eligible for the school-based allotment.

McCue said the distribution of the town’s initial allotment of kits last week went relatively smoothly. Most were picked up at Town Hall on Thursday, and the remainder, for those who were unable to pick them up, were hand-delivered. “It was a little bit of a traffic jam when we first started,” McCue said, but once the process got going it was efficient.

“This time we are restricting [the distribution] to two kits per address,” McCue said. For the first distribution, there were some instances where members of the same household had each requested kits.

The town also asks that those who have previously received kits from the town not request them again, and is hoping people are honest about it. There is also a record of kits that have been already handed out.

“We want to restrict it to those who have a legitimate need,” McCue said. “This isn’t designed for people to have a stash in their bathroom if they get the sniffles in a few weeks.”

Anyone requesting a kit will be notified by email when they are ready to be picked up, which will be sometime later this week. Proof of residency must be provided.

Anyone who is unable to arrange for pick-up, or who doesn’t receive instructions within 48 hours, can contact McCue at Robert.McCue@westhartfordct.gov.

The town will also be holding another distribution of N95 masks, weather-permitting, on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, at the former St. Brigid School property at 100 Mayflower Street. Details to follow.

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