Passaic County offering at-home Covid-19 tests for residents
By Jonathan Greene
Published: June 9, 2020
Passaic County is offering at-home Covid-19 saliva testing to residents of its sixteen municipalities, including Paterson, officials announced on Monday.
Residents will have to sign up online to receive instructions on getting the test. After registering, the resident will be given instructions on how to request the test kit, perform a saliva collection under the supervision of Vault Medical Services via video conference application Zoom, and then mail the specimen to the Rutgers Clinical Genomic Laboratory for processing.
Results will be available in 48 hours. Test is free for Passaic County residents. Residents will need a driver’s license to obtain the test.
“Now, through this partnership with Vault and Rutgers, residents will be able to receive a COVID-19 test kit at their home, and get the results within two days,” Passaic County freeholder director Cassandra “Sandi” Lazzara said.
Lazzara said Passaic County has been a “leader in ensuring every resident has access” to Covid-19 testing. The county opened a drive-thru testing site at William Paterson University in late March that provided screening to 14,000 residents.
Rate of infection in Passaic County has slowly declined over the past weeks. 16,461 people tested positive for the virus and 975 people have died as of Monday.
Densely populated Paterson has been hit the hardest.
“The only way to flatten the curve and reopen Passaic County and New Jersey’s economy is by increasing testing capacity for COVID-19,” freeholder Bruce James said. “By offering free testing services to residents from the convenience of their home, Passaic County is leading the charge in New Jersey to enhance testing capacity and control the spread of COVID-19.”
Passaic County is the first local or county government in New Jersey to roll out the at-home testing model, according to freeholders.
Register for the at-home coronavirus test kit by clicking her or going to https://www.passaiccountynj.org/government/departments/health/at-home_covid-19_testing/index.php.