HARTFORD, Conn. — The shipment of three million COVID-19 at-home rapid tests that were supposed to be handed out across Connecticut is delayed, according to Gov. Ned Lamont's office.
Many cities and towns were planning to distribute those free test kits to residents as early as Thursday, but due to the delay, those municipalities might not be able to.
Gov. Lamont's office said the setback is due to shipping and warehouse delays outside of the state's control.
"My staff and multiple state agencies have spent the past several days working around the clock to accelerate the movement of our tests through what is clearly a shipping and distribution bottleneck on the West Coast amid unprecedented international demand for tests. I want to thank our municipal and emergency management partners who have quickly and efficiently established their methods of distribution of the tests, clearly communicating them to their communities,” Lamont said.
"There is a chance they get here overnight but for now, we’re making sure our cities and towns know there is a delay," Max Reiss, the Communications Director for Gov. Lamont, said.
The City of Hartford announced it will be continuing with its plans to distribute kits on Thursday. The city purchased its own kits and was not impacted by the delay in shipment.
"We were lucky enough to have placed an order and have that order delivered this week. And so it was an embarrassment of riches when the state told us they would be able to provide us with additional testing kits," said Liany Arroyo, the city's health director.
Hours, locations and more information on that distribution can be found, here.
New London's mayor's office said they hope to have an update by 8:30 a.m. Thursday on whether or not the distribution at C.B. Jennings School will still be happening in the afternoon.
Watertown officials said they are still planning to distribute kits on Thursday unless they do not arrive by then.
New Haven officials were not planning to distribute kits until Friday and hope to not be impacted by the delays.
"We wanted to get them out on Thursday but we actually discussed the fact that hey, if something happens, and there's a delay in us getting them, let's not hold our feet to the fire and try to do it on Thursday," said Rick Fontana, emergency operations director for the city.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at gmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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