Illinois offers free COVID-19 test kits to low-income residents

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KWQC) -The Illinois Department of Public Health announced it will be distributing 1 million over-the-counter COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to residents in economically disadvantaged zip codes through a partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation.. The announcement comes as the CDC released data showing that 31counties in Illinois are at an elevated Community Level for COVID-19. IDPH is reporting 14,225 new cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, and 54 deaths since October 28.

Through the Project ACT program, IDPH will be distributing tests to 200,000 Illinois families in zip codes that are rated high on a Social Vulnerability Index . Households can find out if they are in an eligible and request one package of five tests on a first-come-first-serve basis at the Project ACT website. The tests will be delivered to the home address.

Meanwhile, free COVID-19 testing locations are available throughout the state, including in Rock Island County, and can be found on the IDPH website’s testing locator page.

Large numbers of residents continue to receive the latest COVID boosters, with an average of more than 25,000 doses administered across the state each day.

Of Illinois’ total population, more than 78% have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, more than 70% have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, and of the eligible population, more than 11% have received the bivalent booster dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.