The Oregon Health Authority has ordered 6 million home test kits to be given away free to help detect the coronavirus, the agency announced Thursday.
The kits, each containing two tests, will be sent to health agencies, schools and community organizations to distribute. They also will go to farm and agricultural workers, health care workers, shelters and early learning centers.
Commercially-available home test kits have been in short supply, with some pharmacies and other retailers reporting they are selling out as soon as they get stocks in.
The state stock will be in addition to President Joe Biden’s recent announcement that the federal government will directly provide 500 million free at-home tests. A website to request those tests is expected to be operating soon.
In Oregon, the state is paying $10 for its test kits, with the $60 million cost being covered by FEMA funding.
“We would expect these tests to be used pretty quickly. We anticipate this order of tests to last us for the next three months, although it’s difficult to predict,” according to Jonathan Modie, lead communications officer for the Oregon Health Authority.
Shipments to the state are expected to take five weeks, with the first 1 million tests scheduled to arrive on Monday, Jan. 3.
“The test kit order comes as omicron continues its steady overtake of delta as the state’s dominant COVID-19 variant,” the Oregon Health Authority said in its statement. “With its high transmissibility, omicron is already thought to be driving a steady increase in hospitalizations over recent days.”
The agency reported 440 people hospitalized with the coronavirus, an increase of 21 from Wednesday. Statewide, hospitals reported they had 50 available beds in intensive care units out of 650 and 265 adult non-ICU beds out of 4,128.
“As the number of cases increase, rapid testing will be critical to efforts to encourage people to take steps that reduce transmission, including isolating and quarantining at home, wearing masks and face coverings, keeping their distance from others and getting vaccinated as soon as they’re healthy,” the health authority said in its statement.
According to instructions from iHealth Labs, the provider of the test kits, a positive test result means “it is very likely you currently have COVID-19. There is a very small chance that this test can give a positive test resulting that is wrong.”
The company said those testing positive “should isolate at home per CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommendations to stop spreading the virus to others.”
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