ALBANY – C\OVID-19 rapid result testing will be made available to every county in New York State, Governor Cuomo announced.
The State Department of Health will deploy an initial 400,000 rapid result test kits free of charge to local health departments, hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers to help increase access to free COVID-19 tests that can be done within 15 minutes and without having to send a specimen to a lab.
The health department will prioritize the distribution of testing kits to counties and local health care providers in areas seeing recent uptick in cases.
The rapid tests can be used to control new outbreaks, conduct surveillance testing, and will also be made available on a as needed basis to help schools in ‘yellow zones’ test students and staff as part of new requirements to monitor COVID-19 spread as part of the Governor’s Cluster Action Initiative.
