Help Your Community Access Free COVID-19 Testing This Holiday Season and Beyond
December 6, 2022
In June 2022, the National Volunteer Firefighter Council began working to improve access to COVID-19 laboratory testing in communities across the country. Many of our network fire departments nationwide are working with the CDC and Color Health to host FREE COVID-19 testing sites in their communities as part of the Increased Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program.
As we enter winter and the holiday season, it’s important to take preventative measures to prepare for holiday travel, more symptomatic people, and higher risk for COVID-19 surges. Fire departments that join the free community testing program can help serve as another barrier of COVID-19 protection for our communities.
Hosting a testing site is simple, low-effort and safe. Fire departments receive everything they need to run a successful testing operation with minimal contact and are supported by Color’s team every step of the way.
Here’s how it works:
- Local departments host a pick-up and drop-off bin at their location.
- Community members self-test in a designated area on-site or at their homes.
- Using pre-supplied packing materials, sites easily and safely ship the tests to the lab for analysis.
Testing is totally FREE for all community members, plus, there’s benefits to your department beyond supporting your community:
- Improved connections with the community and better visibility of your department
- $250 for signing up for the program
- $7.50 per completed COVID-19 test
To learn more about the program, check out this FAQ list. If you’re interested in joining the ICATT program, fill out the onboarding form here. If you have any questions, you can join a weekly live program overview held on Zoom at 10am PST / 1pm EST every Wednesday. Click here to register.
