Free at-home COVID test kits to be available at Frederick County Public Libraries

Angela Roberts, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·2 min read

Dec. 1—Starting Thursday, free at-home coronavirus test kits will be available at all county library locations through a new state health department program announced last week by Gov. Larry Hogan.

As part of the initiative, Maryland's health department distributed 500,000 Abbott BinaxNOW Ag At-Home COVID-19 test kits statewide. Each kit contains two tests that are self-administered and meant to be used by one person, at least 36 hours apart and within three days of each other.

Public libraries in the county are offering the test kits in collaboration with the Frederick County Health Department. No appointment is necessary to receive a kit, which is available through the libraries' curbside pick-up services, according to a Health Department news release.

There is a limit of one test per person and four per family at a given time, according to the release. Neither proof of residence nor a library card is required to receive a test kit. Tests will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The test kits are currently limited in supply and will be restocked as more are received from the state health department — something that is expected in the upcoming weeks. Updates will be provided on the FCHD and FCPL Facebook pages, the FCHD testing webpage and the homepage of the FCPL website.

In-person PCR testing is available for free, seven days per week at Frederick Health Village — where a doctor's COVID-19 test order or free self-test order is required — or at the walk-in clinic run by the Health Department, 1100 W. Patrick St., where no doctor's order is required.

The at-home test kits are intended for people who may have been exposed to the virus, are having symptoms of COVID-19 or who want to take extra steps to protect vulnerable family and friends they are visiting, according to the release. They are not intended for routine employment testing, pre-travel testing or for school quarantine or isolation.

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