WESTPORT — As Connecticut’s COVID-19 positivity rate hit a record 15 percent Tuesday, the town’s allotment from the state’s supply of COVID-19 at-home testing kits will be distributed Thursday at Staples High School.

The drive-through distribution of “iHealth” kits to Westport residents will start at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30, at the high school, 70 North Ave. 

First-come, first served kit distribution

Two kits will be handed out per vehicle on a first-come, first-served basis, officials said.

The town is slated to get 3,420 kits from the state for distribution to local residents.

Those wishing to receive test kits should use Staples’ main entrance on North Avenue and drive to the point of distribution, where an attendant will ask to see a driver’s license. People must remain in their vehicles. Once the kits are handed to the driver, they will be asked to move on to relieve the anticipated traffic congestion.

Announcement of the local COVID test kit distribution was made by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker on Tuesday afternoon, a day after Gov. Ned Lamont announced plans to distribute a total of 3 million tests, as well as N95 masks, statewide beginning later this week.

The at-home testing strategy is designed to help ease pressure on the growing demand to test for the virus across Connecticut, as cases of COVID-19 surge both locally and statewide, primarily driven by the Omicron variant.

State, local data show COVID surging

The latest figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Public Health showed the state’s COVID positivity rate hit a record 14.98 percent, with 963 patients currently hospitalized for treatment of the virus.

In Westport, the latest transmission rate stands at 30.6 per 100,000 people, nearly double the figure of 16.5/100,000 on Dec. 10 when state public health officials moved the town into the “red zone,” or its classification for communities with the highest rate of transmission.

Plans to distribute N95 masks to state residents, expected to begin early next week, have not been completed, according to Tooker’s announcement. 

Feds’ test guidance, Westport’s mask rules

Under recently revised guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control, if a self-test for COVID yields a positive result, that person should isolate for five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others. There is no need to obtain a followup PCR test.

Current mask-wearing rules in Westport require that anyone entering a municipal building, including the Westport Library and all schools, is required to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status.