Lines stretch 3 miles in Youngstown for COVID-19 tests
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- Even the people who were at the end of the line to receive four free COVID-19 rapid tests were rewarded Wednesday.
Erin Bishop, Youngstown Health District commissioner, said that when all 4,000 kits were given out at the Covelli Centre, an additional 110 people were still in line. They received a business card offering them four kits -- if they return today at another giveaway just for them at Wick Park between 9 a.m. and noon.
An additional shipment of 5,000 kits arrived Wednesday, Bishop said. In addition to the 110 "leftovers" from Wednesday, the health district will be visiting senior-citizen high rises and churches to deliver kits, she said.
The process for Wednesday's giveaway was that recipients had to get into a line of traffic going north on Market Street in the city, turn right onto Front Street and then into the Covelli parking lot. There was no preregistration required. The kits are self administered. Those who have a positive test result are asked to contact the health district, Bishop said.
The kits have a retail cost of about $50, but the Ohio Department of Health is distributing millions of the kits to health departments across the state, including Youngstown and Mahoning County to give out for free.
When asked how the distribution was going Wednesday morning, Bishop said she has tried to "be as organized as we can, but it's hard" when you distribute 4,000 kits to 1,000 people, she said.
At 8:30 a.m. the line of cars waiting for kits stretched as far south as St. Dominic Church at Southern Boulevard and Lucius Avenue on the South Side.
That is about 3 miles from the Covelli Centre.
RAPID RESULTS
The kits are Abbott BinaxNOW home tests. They provide results in 15 minutes.
These tests received U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Bishop said she wanted to start the distribution at 8 a.m. as it was announced, but Youngstown police officers who were providing traffic control along Front and Market streets were "nervous" regarding the amount of traffic, so the distribution began at 7:15 a.m.
The health department had used the Eugenia Atkinson Recreation Center on the North Side for its earlier test kit distribution.
As for the people in line, one driver mentioned some misbehavior going on while he waited in the line of cars. He reported it to one of the police officers, he said.
WORTH THE WAIT
Brianna Parrish of Struthers, one of the people in line to receive four kits, said she she spent "hours driving this week trying to find tests," so she was happy Youngstown was providing them. She got in line a little before 6 a.m. and made it into the Covelli parking lot around 7:45 a.m.
Bishop said the last of the 4,000 kits were given out about 10 a.m.
"Most of my family was sick for Christmas" and not able to gather with the family for Christmas, Parrish said. As a result, her family's gathering was small, she said.
James Brown, a lifelong Youngstown resident who now stays in Austintown, said he appreciates the opportunity to test himself because the test kits are "hard to come by. You don't want to be shut in and shut down. I want to know exactly what is going on because I don't want to stick in the house. I want to be out and about. And you don't know who is protected and who is not," he said.
"I don't want to infect anybody. I'm around grand babies," he said.
Bob Prochak of Campbell said he got in line about 5:45 a.m. on Market Street after getting off of Poland Avenue.
Despite a report or two of conflict among drivers, Prochak said he did not see any problems.
"Everybody was patient. Nobody cut in line," he said.
Mahoning County Public Health distributed about 5,000 kits to motorists two weeks ago at the Canfield Fairgrounds, but Ryan Tekac, Mahoning County health commissioner, said Wednesday the agency has a different plan for its next distribution.
It will be partnering with the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County to distribute its next 4,000 kits. The details will be released in the coming days, but the idea is to spread out the distributions to all parts of the county, Tekac said.
The kits will be provided at the various library branches, including ones farther from Youngstown, such as Sebring, New Middletown and Greenford.
erunyan@vindy.com