Orange County becomes first county to offer home COVID-19 testing to residents

Orange County slides back into restrictive purple tier

Orange County is also feeling the pinch of new restrictions. it's sliding back down to the restrictive purple tier. But, the county is about to become the first county in the nation to provide COVID-19 saliva test kits to its residents.

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. - David Clawson is trying to practice marital arts via Zoom with the 50 or so students, who would have been sweating in-person at his Orange Pakia Training site. Across the street, restaurant managers at the Urth Cafe are getting ready for customers, which is outside only.

As of Tuesday night, Orange County is back under a state order to restrict business orations back to the purple tier, the most restrictive in California.

Orange County slides down to restrictive purple tier

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At the same time, county health officials are releasing the first countywide home test kit program for its residents. Eleven thousand saliva kids will be distributed this week, from clinics in Santa Ana and Anaheim, where the infection numbers have risen the most. By December, residents all over the county will have them available.

You can pick them up, or have them mailed to your home, says OC Supervisor Andrew Do. Do explained people can test before or after attending family gatherings (which officials are still asking people to limit).

These are saliva kits, so no need to use needles or getting swabs up your nose. If you don’t want to pick them up, you can actually have them mailed to you, and if the sample is placed in the mail by 1:30 p.m., results should be available within 24 hours. according to the county’s health officer, Dr Clayton Chau.

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