How's the COVID-19 rapid test distribution going in Massachusetts towns and cities?

Across Massachusetts, local boards of health are scrambling to obtain enough rapid test kits to meet residents' demand.

Many towns and cities received rapid tests in December through Gov. Charlie Baker’s initiative to get 2.1 million free tests to 102 communities with high poverty levels. People quickly snatched up those supplies, and since then, local officials have been trying to meet the demand by utilizing pandemic relief funds and state contracts with three rapid test manufacturers that allow municipalities to order rapid tests for less than retail cost.

GBH News talked to seven communities’ boards of health and city leadership to get a sense of how they’re getting more tests and distributing them.

Jump to: Bedford, Chelsea, Lawrence, Rockland, Springfield, Ware or Worcester

Rockland

Rockland received a shipment from the state in December. The town prioritized distributing many of those tests to seniors and people who lived in low-income housing, and got the rest to residents on a first-come, first served basis.

“They went quick. We started giving them out at 11 o'clock on Friday. By 4 o'clock, we only had three boxes left. And Monday morning (there) was a line out the door at 8 o'clock for people waiting, because then word got out that we were giving them out and we only had three boxes,” said Delshaune Flipp, health agent at the Board of Health.

Given the significant demand, Flipp used the state's contract to place an order for 1,260 tests from iHealth Lab on Jan. 10. The price? $10 for each two-test kit. Flipp took a screenshot of the order to show her account administrator. The next day, she went back to the online sales system to apply for the sale to be tax-exempt, where she found the price jumped to $19.80 per kit. Thankfully, after she reached out to iHealth, the company agreed to honor the originally quoted price.

“They agreed to adjust the price this one time for the seven cases I wanted to order only," she said. "Obviously, I am very grateful. However, I probably will not order any additional [test kits]."

Chelsea

Chelsea’s 31,320 state-issued tests were also gone by Christmas. To ensure the supplies were going to residents, the city required people provide a Chelsea address to get those tests — a strategy the city plans to continue. They are avoiding asking for a state-issued ID out of concern for undocumented residents.

“The issue with the rapid tests right now is that even if people could afford them, there was a shortage of them. It's difficult to find them in your local pharmacies, your stores,” said Flor Amaya, the city’s director of public health.

Chelsea placed another order of rapid tests last week, which Amaya said would arrive in seven to 15 days.

Worcester

Worcester received over 135,500 tests in December from the state, and distributed them to residents using community groups like the Worcester Food Bank.

“Just before Christmas, they included the rapid test kits with the food that was going to the food pantry. So when people picked up their food for Christmas, they also got rapid test kits,” said City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. The city also gave test kits to senior advocacy groups for distribution to residents.

To keep up with demand, Augustus Jr. recently purchased 30,000 rapid tests using $150,000 of the city’s federal pandemic relief money.

"We can continue to pump into the communities at-home kits, given the demand and the loss of the PCR sites,” he said.

Springfield

Springfield received nearly 170,000 at-home rapid tests through the state program in December. The city quickly distributed those to residents at libraries and through nonprofits.

But during those distribution efforts, city officials learned people from other municipalities were coming to Springfield and providing other people's addresses to obtain tests. To keep tests in residents' hands, the city is now asking for proof of residency for everyone seeking tests, other than undocumented individuals.

“We have purchased additional test kits not only for our residents, but certainly for our school department teachers and potentially students,” said Helen Caulton Harris, commissioner of the Division of Health and Human Services in Springfield.

The city just bought another 25,000 iHealth rapid tests using federal pandemic relief money and the discount negotiated under the governor’s contract, using federal relief money. The city started distributing those tests at community centers on Tuesday on a first-come, first-served basis, with each household able to get two kits with two tests each. The city is expecting another 30,000 tests.

Ware

Even midsize towns like Ware, with roughly 9,800 residents, received rapid tests from the state in December. Those 6,300 tests disappeared quickly.

“The test kits were given away over the course of three to four days, and then they were gone — and that in no way came close to meeting the demand,” said Town Manager Stuart Beckley. He said the town's residents struggle with the cost and availability of rapid tests, along with getting transportation to PCR test sites.

Ware received a little less than $2.9 million in federal pandemic relief money, and plans to use $100,000 of that for more rapid tests, personal protective equipment and other tools to mitigate the virus.

Lawrence

Lawrence got 75,000 tests in mid-December through the state, and ran out soon after.

“We've had an explosion of cases in the past couple of weeks, probably close to 8,000 COVID-positive cases in Lawrence,” said Board of Health Director Michael Armano. “There’s been a very high demand. As you can imagine, there's probably not one person in the city that doesn't have a close friend or a close relative that is called COVID-positive.”

Lawrence just ordered 140,000 kits, each with two tests, from two different companies in an effort to get them more quickly.

“We really don't know what the time is of shipment,” said Armano. “Hopefully, that'll help us get to just a little bit quicker by using two different companies.”

Bedford

Bedford was not one of the 102 communities included in Baker’s initiative back in December. The town waited until the state established a contact with vendors to order rapid tests.

Heidi Porter, director of Health and Human Services, said the town is committed to getting one free test kit to all of the 5,200 households in town. When the deliveries come in, it’s all hands-on deck.

“It’s not just the health department that's doing this distribution,” said Porter. “It’s the town staff and the fire department, the town manager's office, the Council on Aging — we're utilizing staff from all departments simply because one department couldn't do it themselves.”

But it’s been a hassle getting the deliveries. As of Friday, the town had gotten about a fifth of their orders.

“We had orders in with two other vendors, one of the vendors cancelled our order, and the other is a little bit delayed. Supply chain issues,” said Porter.

Test kits received last week were distributed to residents 60-plus at a drive-thru event at Middlesex Community College, and the town’s Facebook page is keeping residents appraised of when more arrive.