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IDPH Offering a Back-to-School Shipment of 1 Million Free COVID-19 Rapid Tests for Illinois K-12 Public Schools

News – Wednesday, August 10, 2022

CHICAGO - The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced today it is providing a one-time bulk shipment of 1 million over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to K-12 public school districts outside of Chicago for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. The tests will be provided free of charge.

The tests are being offered upon request and are intended to supplement testing at school districts for the duration of the upcoming school year. Only one request is permitted per district. The tests will be delivered to a single hub location in the district. Districts will then be responsible for distributing the tests to their local schools. The number of tests distributed will be based on the size of the district.

The OTC tests are intended to be distributed or to be administered in the following ways:

  1. Providing tests to students with COVID-19 symptoms for at-home use, including the testing of family members or close contacts.
  2. Testing of those who may have been exposed while in school.
  3. Testing in alignment with the Illinois Test to Stay (T2S) program.

The tests are not intended to be used for regular screening purposes. IDPH continues to provide free weekly screening testing through SHIELD-IL and the Midwest Coordinating Center.

For more information about the State of Illinois’s efforts to protect school children and teachers from COVID-19, go to: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/community-guidance/school-guidance.html.