By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Free at-home COVID tests are now being offered for order online, which could bring some relief to the Doniphan County Health Department.
Doniphan County Health Director Sheryl Pierce says that these at-home tests are just as effective as the ones at the clinic, but the most common problem, is people testing themselves too early.
"Say you became sick yesterday evening, and then you test today, these antigen tests may not pick up the virus at this point, if you wait a day or two, they may," Pierce tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "So really with the antigen we like to see people that are, you know, they become ill, they stay at home, stay at home a couple days, maybe on day three they test with those home tests."
Pierce says the at-home tests do not go on record as confirmed cases, so you should still come to the clinic if a confirmed test is required by your job.
Pierce says everyone at the clinic has been busy with testing, but some relief for her staff came with the elimination of contact tracing by the state of Kansas.
"You know, when we would call a positive case, they maybe would have 10 or 12, if they had a family gathering over the weekend, 10 or 12 people to call," Pierce says. "We would call all those people, tell them their quarantine guidelines, tell them what day they can get out of quarantine, if they were a school child the school would get involved also, or if it's a school positive, you know we'd contact the school."
The clinic in Troy in northeast Kansas has seen a surge of residents coming in to get tested, in the midst of the Omicron variant which is caused the county numbers to spike.
County Health Director Sheryl Pierce says though, the numbers are beginning to drop, which is conclusive with what the state of Kansas is also starting to see.
"Kansas thinks that we've plateaued out a little bit in Kansas, and that's what they predicted, towards the end of January or first of February, our numbers would start going down," Pierce says. "And we are seeing that somewhat at this point."
Pierce says though they are still staying busy at the clinic, and encourages residents to come get tested if they are feeling sick.
At-home tests can be ordered through the federal government and secure office online. You can order up to four tests per household.
More information about how to order at-home rapid tests, can be found HERE.