Wake County to phase out its free COVID-19 testing this summer
Wake County will start scaling back free COVID-19 tests before ultimately ending its two-year long program July 29.
Since the start of the pandemic, Wake County Public Health has administered more than 1.5 million COVID-19 tests for the public.
“Thanks to federal funding and incredible staff working through the heat of summer and bitter cold of winter, Wake County has offered fast, convenient, no-cost testing for almost two years straight,” said Sig Hutchinson, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners.
“COVID-19 testing isn’t going away,” he added. “With the abundance of at-home testing kits and other testing locations throughout the community, there will be plenty of opportunities for people to keep themselves safe and healthy.”
Wake County has spent $131 million since the start of testing, nearly all coming from federal COVID-19 relief money. But that money is almost gone and Wake County is spending $2 million a month in its own funds to continue testing, according to a Friday news release.
The county is scaling back testing now because of “free at-home tests, numerous other community testing locations, and effective vaccine and treatment options easily available,” the release stated.
Tests will be reduced beginning Monday, with the county ending Saturday testing and moving from 11,600 testing appointments to 8,400.
The number will drop to 6,400 on June 20 and to 2,700 on July 5, with testing will be offered Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays.
Wake County has a current positivity rate of 19.4% and 54 people are currently hospitalized, according to Wake County’s COVID-19 website. About 74% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
North Carolina is reporting nearly 26,500 new COVID-19 cases last week, according to state data.
Wake County, along with eight other counties, moved from the “low” to a “medium” risk category, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“What happens in the Triangle does not stay in the Triangle,” said Dr. Zack Moore, state epidemiologist, The News & Observer previously reported. “It’s a pretty good heads up to everybody that activity is increasing, and that’s likely going to be a trend across the state.”
The testing news does not change anything for people who already have a COVID-19 test appointment.
Appointments are still required and can be made at www.wakegov.com/testing.
Other ways to get free COVID-19 tests:
- The federal government is allowing people to get eight antigen tests per household by visiting covid.gov/tests
- The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and Labcorp have a program where people can request free at-home testing kits. The kits do cost money to be shipped back and the website says kits are being limited. More details can be found online at www.ondemand.labcorp.com/nc
- Wake County will also distribute antigen at-home kits at various county locations. A plan for sharing those kits will be shared in later weeks, according to the Friday news release.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 8:58 AM.
