As residents have been sent scrambling for COVID-19 tests in recent weeks, Bucks County officials are stepping up to purchase 300,000 antigen at-home test kits.
The commissioners voted to pay as much as $2.77 million to Safeware Inc., of Lanham, Maryland, to order the 300,000 test kits.
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There was no timeline released for distribution of the COVID-19 test kits. State and federal authorities have increased their efforts to make at-home testing available.
The county has not announced that they plan to open any in-person testing sites like they did last winter. The county does operate three in-person COVID-19 testing sites for students and schools.
Amid the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, area pharmacies and medical facilities have been short on tests as people rush to get them.
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Commissioner Bob Harvie said the county made the decision to purchase the large amount of tests after local hospitals that sounded the alarm on the lack of tests.
The commissioners also approved spending $251,904 to purchase COVID-19 test kits from Safeware Inc. for students, school workers, and unvaccianted county employees.
The commissioners approved a disaster declaration through the end of January to allow the emergency purchase of test kits and related COVID-19 supplies.
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Bucks County reported 5,888 new infections last week, a 93 percent over the week prior, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data.
The county’s six hospitals went from 140 COVID-19 positive patients last week to 219 as of this week.
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