Free in-home coronavirus tests arrive in Montana, if you can find one
On Thursday, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced that 650,000 federally funded at-home COVID tests have arrived in the state, and that the distribution of the free tests is scheduled to begin this coming Sunday, Jan. 30.
“They arrived this week, and we’re shipping them to local public health departments for community distribution at no cost to Montanans,” Gianforte announced via Twitter Thursday afternoon.
“The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services stood up hometest.mt.gov as a resource for Montanans to obtain information on how and where to receive their free test,” a news release from the governor’s office explains. “DPHHS will update the website as more information on distribution is made available by local public health departments.”
The Biden administration announced on Jan. 14 that the federal government would be buying 1 billion at-home COVID tests to give to American households for free. Online ordering for the tests began on Jan. 19, and may still be obtained via email by logging on to www.covidtests.gov.
“There will be free tests available for every household, and to promote broad access, the initial program will allow four free tests to be requested per residential address,” the White House news release states.
The tests typically ship within 7-12 days of ordering.
How-to guide: You've ordered a COVID-19 test kit. What do you do with it?
COVID-19 free test availability remains unclear
However, exactly when and where people in Cascade County can walk in to a local location and obtain the tests for free remained somewhat muddled as of Friday afternoon.
The DPHHS hometest.mt.gov, website currently lists only one location in Cascade County where residents can obtain their free tests, the Little Shell Tribal Health Center on Central Ave. W.
Little Shell Health Center Director Molly Wendland said she is somewhat surprised that only the tribal health center is currently listed, and that they have only been allocated an initial first delivery of 367 tests, a number based upon tribal membership.
“Every tribe was given an allotment connected to their population,” Wenlend said. “Our first shipment we chose to only get 25% of our total allocation (1,468 tests), and we’ll get more allotments as we go forward.”
Wendland said the Little Shell Tribal Health Center is happy to help anyone who asks; however it’s clear that the fewer than 1,500 tests it expects to ultimately obtain are far too few for all of Cascade County.
“If there’s somebody in need of a test, we sure want to help them out,” Wenlend said.
She added that the location to obtain to tests has been moved, from the Tribal Health Center on Central Ave. West to the Little Shell Tribal Wellness Center at 715 13th Street South. The center is also requesting people call ahead to make an appointment.
“We moved it to our Wellness Center because it’s a little bit more accessible, Wendland said. “We’d like people to make an appointment – to call in and set up a time when they can come in.”
The Little Shell Tribal Wellness Center can be reached at (406) 315-2400 ext. 105.
Inexplicably, the Cascade City/County Health Department has thus far been left off DPHHS’ list of locations to obtain free COVID-19 tests. Lenore Harris, Vaccine Manager for the Health Department, said they do expect the tests to become available through their offices at some point in the coming days; however, at this time the Health Department has no specific confirmation of when and how many tests they will receive.
“I don’t have a confirmation or anything at this point,” Harris said. “We’re expecting them, but we just don’t know when. People call every day, but we just don’t know anything at this point.”
Harris said she was reluctant to announce anything at all about the COVID-19 tests because the City-County Health Department is already being overwhelmed with telephone inquiries.
“We get overwhelmed with phone calls all day long,” Harris said. “Now people are asking about the tests, and they’re also calling and asking about when the masks are going to roll out, and I don’t know the answer to that either.”
Jon Ebelt, public information officer for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, said the days and times of COVID-19 in-home test kits will vary depending upon location.
“DPHHS is distributing the tests to county and Tribal public health departments,” Ebelt said. “Missoula County will be distributing on Sunday. That’s why we said the tests will be distributed as early as Sunday. However, the days and times will vary depending on the county. Distribution information is posted online at hometest.mt.gov, along with local contact information if you have questions.”
“The at-home tests are being distributed on a per capita basis,” Ebelt added. “Local jurisdictions were able to choose if they wanted 100% or 25% of their allocation. About half chose 100%. Those that chose 25% will let us know if they will be needing more and when they’ll need them. This will be ongoing for a bit."
In a subsequent message, Ebelt said DPHHS was in contact with both the Little Shell and the Cascade City-County Health Department to clear up any confusion.
“We’ve touched base with both Cascade and Little Shell on the confusion, and we’ll be updating the website to reflect the changes below,” he said. “There will be tests kits available at the Cascade City-County Health Department from Tuesday to Friday at 9 a.m.-noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“Little Shell will have test kits available at the Little Shell Wellness Center located at 715 13th Ave S. Members are advised to call and make an appointment between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday – Friday at 406-315-2400 ext. 105 or email at m.evans@lstribe.org.”
“I’m hoping that we’ll know more next week," Harris concluded. "We had a meeting this week and we heard a little bit about the distribution, and we had to do our paperwork, which we’ve done. I expected it this week, but it didn’t happen.”
Latest update on COVID-19 cases, deaths
The state on Thursday added 2,888 new cases and reported a total of 19,817 active cases. There are 312 active hospitalizations, and as of Jan. 24, Benefis Health System was operating at more than 90% capacity. There have been 2,993 deaths statewide from the virus, with three additional fatalities since Wednesday.
Cascade County reported 165 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The county has 1,643 active cases and 290 total deaths from the virus, with no new deaths since Tuesday. Forty-nine percent of eligible Cascade County residents are fully immunized. On Jan. 27, Great Falls Public Schools reported 249 active cases districtwide, with the greatest number of cases of COVID at East Middle School (27), Loy Elementary (26), Great Falls High School (23) and C.M. Russell High School (21).
Pandemic shrinks school staff: GFPS approves pay raise for substitutes
On Jan. 26 the Cascade City-County Health Department reported there were 1,059 new cases in the county. The average case rate per day has been 185.9 daily new cases per 100,000 people. And 167 Cascade County residents were newly fully vaccinated this week.
Fifty-four percent of eligible Montanans are fully vaccinated. The five Montana counties with the highest percentage of residents fully vaccinated are Deer Lodge County (65%); Missoula County (65%); Silver Bow County (64%); Gallatin County (61%); and Glacier County (61%). The three Montana counties with the lowest percentage of residents fully vaccinated are Garfield County (24%); McCone County (27%); and Powder River County (28%).
To learn more about vaccines, visit vaccines.gov.
COVID-19 rates by Montana county
Yellowstone County: 601 new, 3,803 active
Missoula County: 372 new, 3,140 active
Lewis and Clark County: 273 new, 1,412 active
Gallatin County: 219 new, 2,608 active
Flathead County: 198 new, 1,399 active
Cascade County: 165 new, 1,643 active
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Free at-home COVID-19 tests will go out soon in Great Falls, Montana
