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Max Weisman: Syracuse residents could begin to pick up at-home COVID test kits earlier this month for the first time since February. Senior Public Information Officer at City Hall Brooke Schneider says around 16 thousand kits have been distributed across the city and some are still being picked up at most available locations.
Brooke Schneider: “Our strategy this whole time in trying to get these test kits out is making sure we’re identifying and getting these out to our most vulnerable populations.”
Weisman: Schneider says if cases begin to rise again and they receive more test kits they will distribute them accordingly. City Hall has also dropped their mask mandate in accordance with the State and County guidelines. Constituent Services and Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator Liz Hradil says she’s happy to not wear a mask at work.
Liz Hradil: “It’s nice to be able to see people’s facial expressions especially when we’re working with constituents.”
Weisman: Increased testing will help in our continued fight against COVID and allow masks to remain off, Max Weisman, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The latest round of at-home COVID-19 test kit pickups in Syracuse began on March 7. However, this round of test pickups was different than the last. Since it began, not all of the at-home tests have been picked up.
Brooke Schneider, Senior Public Information Officer at Syracuse City Hall, said she believes there are still available tests due to a multitude of factors. She noted decreasing numbers in positive cases, President Joe Biden making test kits available by mail on January 19, and the increasing number of test kits that are at local pharmacies.
Schnieder said this round of pickups showed a shift in patterns. She said tests in the first couple rounds, which took place in late December and late January, were distributed quickly. She also said they were distributed directly to residents and through community programming.
“We distributed those to our most vulnerable populations from our senior citizens to residents of Syracuse Housing Authority properties,” Schneider said.
She said that’s been City Hall’s strategy this entire time. Schneider said she anticipates that there will be another round of test kit pickups in the future. She said City Hall hears from Onondaga County via the state of New York about all things COVID-19, and the test kits come from New York State to the county. Once the county gets them, it distributes the tests to Syracuse and other towns and cities in the county.
Schnieder said there’s no reason that March 7 was the first day test kits became available again but she said once City Hall gets test kits, it begins to distribute them as quickly as possible.
“As we’re made aware that we are receiving test kits that’s when we take the initiative to identify our locations, make our points of contact, put our press release out, get news coverage, and get them out the door as quickly as possible,” she said.
Test kits are still available in Syracuse, and Schnieder said that anybody who would like a test kit can check out the Syracuse city blog, which takes you to the press release from March 7, and lists all of the locations test kits are being distributed.