Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said Monday that three million COVID-19 tests and six million N95 masks will soon be made available to Connecticut residents.
Lamont said in a written statement that he hopes the tests and masks will help combat a recent case surge driven by COVID-19 variant omicron. He said the kits can help the state get off to a good start in 2022 by curbing further spread of the virus.
The state said testing kits that each contain two rapid tests will be distributed in the coming weeks. About 500,000 kits will be available to Connecticut residents beginning Thursday. In January, about 1 million kits will go out to K-12 schools in Connecticut.
This plan, according to the state, costs $18.5 million and is funded by federal COVID-19 relief dollars.
At the federal level, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal is calling on the White House to increase its COVID-19 testing stockpile. He called for the Defense Production Act to be invoked so that Americans can have more at-home tests available to them.
In advance of the Christmas holiday, more than 200,000 COVID-19 tests were taken by Connecticut residents.
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