Community leaders get the word out about free COVID-19 at-home tests

CHARLOTTE — The website to sign up for free at-home COVID tests to be mailed to your home by the federal government is live. Supplies are limited to four tests per household.

The White House said Tuesday’s launch was only a test but hundreds of people have already placed their orders, including one local mom.

Channel 9 has long reported on the challenges -- and at times, chaos -- that have come along with trying to get a COVID test. But the government’s plan offers a new option to avoid those encounters.

Pastor Cornelius Atkinson is with The Heights Ministries in northwest Charlotte, where faith leaders and grassroots organizations have been spreading the word.

“Once we got that information on Monday, we sent it out as a mass email to our congregation,” he said. “We need them. Unfortunately, everybody doesn’t go to church in the community. Therefore all organizations need to participate in spreading the word.”

Carlenia Ivory is a community liaison with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, where she works with Title I schools.

“I feel the responsibility that we need to do it, and we need to do it in the communities that are underserved, that are at risk,” she said. “These are schools that are often left out when it comes to receiving information. So I felt that it was very important and very necessary that I share with the advocates and the social workers, so they can share with their families.”

The federal website was first set to launch Wednesday, but by Tuesday afternoon, Channel 9 learned of hundreds who had already placed their orders.

Many viewers were turned away, including one mom who said her daughter tried ordering four tests from her college dorm. She got a message that said at home tests had already been ordered, and the system couldn’t process duplicate orders from the same address.

According to the White House, residents are only allowed one order of four tests per address. Channel 9 is checking to see how leaders plan to navigate shared addresses like a college dorm.

For assistance in the ordering process, the USPS recommends filing a service request here or contact its help desk at 1-800-ASK-USPS.”

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