The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced Tuesday the expansion of the Binax At-Home rapid testing program to food services employees around the state.

This expansion to food services workers builds on the program’s February launch for use by PK-12 grade teachers, school administrators, early childhood educators, and other student-facing staff in Colorado schools.

Scott Bookman, COVID-19 Incident Commander for CDPHE, said the Binax At-Home program allows eligible individuals to order free testing kits to their homes and test themselves for COVID-19 under the guidance of a telehealth proctor.

“Our main priority continues to be keeping Coloradans safe and healthy, and rapid, At-Home Binax tests are another tool to mitigate the virus while the vaccine rollout continues,” Bookman said. “Food services employees continue to report to work every day and play a huge role in getting our economy back on track. We are confident that these tests will help keep our restaurants open and our food services workers safe.”

Sonia Riggs, President and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said her group’s top priority has always been keeping guests safe and healthy

“ We are thrilled that this resource will be available to our industry as an additional means to that end,” Riggs said “We hope the Binax At-Home program, in combination with vaccine distribution to restaurant workers, can help create a clear path to safely welcoming Colorado’s communities back into restaurants at full capacity.”

Food service employees can enroll in the program by filling out a Google Form which verifies their employer and their email address. Once applicants are approved, they will receive an email from CDPHE detailing how they can order their own free testing kit, delivered directly to their homes via Amazon. From there, individuals will schedule a telehealth appointment for instruction on how to administer the test via the NAVICA App. Test kits contain six tests, which recipients can use to test themselves every five days. Users are eligible to order their next Binax At-Home testing kit 20 days after their previous order.

Testing kits are free-of-charge to the user. CDPHE partners withAmazon and eMed on the Binax At-Home partnership.

For more information visit https://covid19.colorado.gov/covid-19-testing-at-home.

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