NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Dozens of communities across the state are ramping up the distribution of roughly 350,000 free at-home rapid COVID test kits the state doled out over the weekend. But, the City of New Haven says that can't go public just yet.
The city's first priority: Get test kits and masks to vulnerable groups; those involved in education and critical city staff.
"We’re having a difficult time," said Rick Fontana, New Haven's Director of Emergency Operations. "There is a shortage of firefighters, there’s a shortage of police officers, there’s a shortage of paramedics and EMTs."
"Over 500 school staff today were out and when you think about that we have approximately 4,000 staff in our schools over 500 were out," said Mayor Justin Elicker (D-New Haven).
Milford's Walnut Beach was one of two sites in the city Monday that are dished out about 1,250 kits each. And, in a city of over 50,000 residents, they can't wait for more.
The line of cars at Walnut Beach started building an hour before tests were first handed out at 3 p.m. Monday and never subsided.
"My wife’s boss had COVID and she was working and I got it so we could both get tested," said Charles Chetcuti of Milford.
Guilford is among the communities making residents register online. They had only 3,000 test kits available in a town of 25,000 residents. As a way to prevent traffic from backing up, they scheduled only 100 cars per hour, which was appreciated.
"My daughter has a business that she has to run and we have plans that we have to catch to go back home, and that might be a challenge," said Edward Delea, who lived in Guilford for 20 years before retiring to Florida.
North Haven Town Hall Annex is serving as one of five distribution points across the state for the test kits and masks, with assistance from approximately 150 soldiers and airmen from the Connecticut National Guard.
"We never imagined we’d be here two years later," said Paul Januszewski, the North Haven Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director. "We have learned a lot in the last two years much like a lot of other towns and we’re happy to have the State of Connecticut on board and working aggressively to provide these testing kits and these masks."
State and local officials say if you are not experiencing symptoms or have not very recently been exposed to someone who tested positive, leave these at-home tests for people who need them.
Tony Terzi is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tterzi@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
---
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
---
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.