Honolulu Fire Department to resume distribution of free home COVID-19 test kits
The Honolulu Fire Department says it has another supply of the free “Say Yes” COVID-19 home test kits, which it will begin distributing again on Tuesday.
The free kits are being distributed to Hawaii residents as part of a pilot federal program, but HFD paused giveaways earlier this month when it ran out of the kits due to high demand.
HFD will resume distributing the kits at the following times at four drive-thru testing sites:
>> 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Aloha Stadium (Bus Lot area near Salt Lake Boulevard) .
>> 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday at Kapolei Consolidated Theatres, 890 Kamokila Blvd.
>> 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Ewa Mahiko District Park, 91-205 Renton Road.
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>> 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Waianae District Park, 85-601 Farrington Highway.
The “Say Yes! COVID Test” at-home testing challenge is a cooperative effort between the Hawaii Department of Health, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, test manufacturer Quidel, and health care technology company CareEvolution.
A total of 1 million tests were offered in September to Oahu residents in eligible zip codes, with each kit containing eight rapid antigen tests. About 80,000 kits, or 640,000 tests, were quickly snapped up online for home delivery. Online ordering is no longer available.
Participating residents are provided with eight rapid antigen tests to be used twice a week for four weeks total, regardless of symptoms.
Health officials say they believe that rapid, self-administered testing can potentially disrupt the spread of COVID-19 that occurs when people are infected, but do not yet have symptoms. Researchers will use publicly available data from the program to determine if local testing efforts slowed the spread of COVID-19.
