City: We Have Covid-19 Test Kits, Please Use Them

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Since Jan. 1, city officials have held five events during which they distributed face masks, and more than 4,000 rapid tests. There are approximately 5,000 rapid test kits still available. The kits are being made available to city residents at the city’s two fire stations, on Lake Ave. and West Ave., at the Vanderbilt Ave. Rec Center and at the Senior Center.     

City Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran stresses that people in the community should become accustomed to using the test kits more often. “Please use these resources, we’re making them available for a reason,” he says. The date of expiration of the kits is July. 

“Throughout the rest of the world these tests are used a lot differently,” said Moran, making the analogy of stocking spare test kits to a vehicle’s spare tire. “‘I’ve got my test and put it in the medicine cabinet next to the aspirin, when I need it, I’ll use it.’  That’s really not what they’re for.” 

“We want these tests to be a method that enables us to go out into the community with some confidence, with some knowledge that we’re well. And if we do go out someplace where there are a lot of people we’re not usually associated with, then we have the ability to test ourselves a couple of days subsequent to that, to make sure you’re well,” Moran says. 

“I encourage every single person to get your hands on tests and start to use them. Even though our transmission rate is low now, developing those habits will do us justice come fall when the next inevitable spike or variant comes forward.” 

As long as the coronavirus spreads through the population, mutations will continue to happen, and the delta and omicron variant families continue to evolve, said Stuart Ray, M.D., vice chair of medicine for data integrity and analytics. His comments were published as part of a Q&A by Johns Hopkins Medicine in January, titled “Covid Variants: What You Should Know.” 

Organizations planning a large-scale event in Saratoga Springs are encouraged to reach out to the city, Moran said. “We will help supply you these test kits to make sure your event is safe, to make sure your folks are safe when they go home.”  That contact point is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..