St. Lucie County To Distribute At-Home COVID Testing Kits Jan. 5 at Libraries

By Press release submission

Jan 10, 2022

St. Lucie County issued the following announcement on Jan. 4.

St. Lucie County’s Public Safety Department, in cooperation with the Florida Department of Health in St. Lucie, will distribute more than 5,000 at-home COVID-19 testing kits at six branch libraries on Wednesday, Jan. 5, starting at 9 a.m. This will be a drive-thru distribution and the number of kits will be limited per vehicle, while supplies last.

“As we continue to experience another wave of this virus, we know the best way to mitigate the spread is to know your status. Please, if you are sick – stay home,” said St. Lucie County Public Safety Director Ron Parrish. “Even though this new wave seems to have milder symptoms, this pandemic continues to put a strain on our health care systems, hospitals, businesses and local governments. We are currently experiencing staffing shortages because of this recent surge.”

The COVID-19 at-home test kits being distributed are manufactured by Abbott BinaxNOW and have been authorized by the Federal Drug Administration under an Emergency Use Authorization. Residents are encouraged to download the app using the QR code found on the outside of the box. The app will allow you to create a “certificate” which can emailed directly to your healthcare provider to show to your school/employer/childcare. In some cases, at-home tests are not considered official results and depending on your circumstances, you may need to consider other testing options. Abbott provides a step-by-step video guide (https://www.abbott.com/corpnewsroom/diagnostics-testing/BinaxNOW-what-you-need-to-know.html) for conducting a BinaxNOW self-test kit at-home. If your self-test is positive, you should stay at home and isolate based on the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Those who test positive should notify their healthcare provider as well as any close-contacts.

“We understand that tests are in high demand. We continue to work with partners to ensure that testing options will be available,” added Parrish.

Tests will be distributed via curbside at the various libraries, so residents do not need to leave their vehicle. Law enforcement will be at each library helping to direct traffic. St. Lucie County Branch Libraries are located at: