PORTLAND, Ore. — As cases surge and the omicron variant continues on pace to become the most common variant of the coronavirus in Oregon, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has placed an order for 12 million at-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed to agencies, schools and community groups.
Demand for testing has skyrocketed. Testing sites are often full, and at-home tests are selling out quickly. The recent winter weather also closed some testing sites earlier this week.
OHA said this is the largest order of tests from the agency to date. It placed an order Wednesday for 6 million two-test antigen rapid test kits from iHealth Labs. Each kit contains two tests.
The state previously ordered 1.46 million Abbott BinaxNOW rapid tests, nearly all of which have been distributed to community partners and K-12 schools, OHA said.
"With two very contagious strains of COVID circulating in our communities, we knew that we wanted to get out ahead of the next wave, particularly as we're heading into the winter months, heading indoors, celebrating holidays," said OHA Testing Program Manager Kristen Donheffner.
The kits will arrive starting next week at OHA's warehouse in Wilsonville, and shipments will continue through January. Tests will be distributed throughout January to partner agencies and organizations. OHA said it does not have the capability to send out tests to individuals.
"We know that we haven't always been able to deliver high-volume and high-capacity testing, and we just don't have the resources, we don't have the bodies to be able to sustain the testing need that our communities require," Donheffer said. "This is really a chance to change that and to get ahead of that, and make it so that people can get a test kit from their local health department and use it if they don't feel well and not have to spend time Googling or scrambling to get a test appointment."
According to OHA, the tests will be distributed to:
- Local public health authorities and Tribes, based on population size and some health equity metrics
- Migrant and seasonal farm and agriculture workers
- Head Start and some other high-risk early learning settings
- K-12 schools to support at-home test to stay
- Health care workers
- Shelters
- Community-based organizations
“Oregon learned during the delta surge that we must be prepared for the unpredictable – we knew we had to be ready for future variants so we could continue to protect the most vulnerable in our communities while keeping our schools, businesses and communities open,” said Gov. Kate Brown in a statement.
The governor encouraged people to get vaccinated and wear masks in addition to utilizing testing.
If you have a positive test, OHA asks that you report that positive test to your doctor, isolate yourself and follow up with your primary care provider for further care.
In Washington, you can self-report your positive test result to the state's COVID-19 hotline at 1-800-525-0127, then press # to begin the process.