STAMFORD, CT — The city of Stamford announced on Wednesday plans to distribute about 17,000 IHealth at-home COVID-19 tests to residents on Thursday. However, shipping delays to Connecticut from the West Coast could impact plans.
“Due to shipping and warehouse delays outside of the State of Connecticut’s control, our state’s anticipated shipment of COVID-19 at-home rapid tests are currently delayed from arriving in Connecticut,” Lamont said in a news release Wednesday. “My staff and multiple state agencies have spent the past several days working around the clock to accelerate the movement of our tests through what is clearly a shipping and distribution bottleneck on the West Coast amid unprecedented international demand for tests.”
Lamont said his administration is in regular communication with city and town leaders on the matter.
The city of Stamford said more information and confirmation of the distribution plan will be released later.
Distribution Plans
The city of Stamford is scheduled to give out testing kits to Stamford residents only beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday at drive-thru sites located in Cummings Park, Kosciuszko Park and Scalzi Park. Residents can walk-up as well.
Each kit contains two tests, and two kits will be available per household. Identification showing Stamford residency is required.
Priority in this first distribution phase will be given to high-risk populations, as well as individuals who have symptoms or have had a known exposure to COVID-19.
“The demand has surpassed the supply, and this won’t satisfy everyone’s desire to get tested, so we’re asking for patience from the public in understanding we wanted to prioritize those who are most at-risk first. This will be the first of many efforts to continue to increase testing capacity,” Mayor Caroline Simmons said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Simmons said kits are also being distributed to socially vulnerable neighborhoods where high rates of COVID-19 have been detected. Priority will also be given to individuals enrolled in the homebound program and for the senior population 65 years old and older.
Pacific House and Inspiraca — organizations that help the homeless — will receive kits as well.
Stamford is also slated to receive an additional 34,000 kits on Jan. 2, 2022 that will be distributed to K-12 schools. Planning for this initiative is being conducted in partnership with the Connecticut State Department of Education and the Stamford Board of Education. More details on the distribution of tests for schools will be announced later, the city said.
The distribution is part of a larger campaign around the state in which 500,000 kits will be given to all 169 municipalities. The initiative comes at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging both locally and nationally, thanks in part to the omicron variant.
Testing sites around the country have been overwhelmed. In Stamford, the Sema4 site was moved from Stamford High School to Cove Island Park last week to try and allow for more space, but the new location has been paused routinely because of vehicle capacity limits.
Simmons said her administration is continuing to work with state and federal partners to open up additional testing sites in Stamford to meet high demand.
Guidance On Testing
CEO of Stamford Health, Kathleen Silard, issued some guidance on how to use the tests during Wednesday’s press conference.
“Our infectious disease leadership recommends that if you have symptoms, or you know you’ve been exposed to COVID-19, then you should test yourself. If you do not have symptoms, or you have not been exposed, we really strongly advise that you hold on to those tests in the event that you need them because one of those two events has occurred,” Silard explained. “If you have no symptoms but you believe you’ve been exposed, you should wait five days before you test yourself, because you will perhaps get a false negative because of the fact that not enough days have occured since your exposure to result in a positive test.”
Silard said if symptoms are present and there’s a positive test, there’s no need to follow up with a PCR test. Most people can recover safely at home, but you should consult with your primary care physician about how to treat yourself if you test positive, Silard said.
“After a positive test, regardless of vaccination status, someone can end isolation after a minimum of five days, but you must be fever free and you should have no symptoms or diminishing symptoms. If you have a fever, or you have robust symptoms after five days, you should continue to isolate yourself,” she said, noting the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on isolation.
Residents should also get vaccinated if they haven’t done so already. Silard said 75 percent of the COVID-19 patients in Stamford Hospital are unvaccinated.
“You should contact your primary care physician and get some advice on how to treat yourself if you have a positive result,” Silard said, adding that most people can recover at home. She urged residents to seek medical care if they have trouble breathing or symptoms become severe.
Silard believes the at-home tests can help make a difference in this new wave of the pandemic.
“The steps that the state of Connecticut and Mayor Simmons are taking to secure these very needed at-home tests is going to really help to meet the increased demand for testing due to the spike in COVID-19 cases as a result of the omicron variant as well as the post holiday transmission that we’ve been seeing,” she said.
Fore more information on COVID-19 in Stamford, go to the city’s website.
For a list of COVID-19 testing sites in Stamford, click here.
