New COVID rapid tests come to Will County

The Will County Health Department is now participating in a program that makes rapid COVID testing more widely available.

The program is called the BINAXNow program. The BINAXNow tests are recommended for anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or for anyone who may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

The Illinois Department of Public Health said “these tests may be a very useful diagnostic tool for testing persons in the early stages on infection.”

The health department said this program may even lift some of the burden of testing from local sites offering the PCR testings.

These tests are provided at no cost to participating organizations, nor to the patient. Although those conducting the tests may charge for the delivery of it, they cannot charge above what insurance will cover, the health department said.

Who can sign up for this program?

Any organization, such as a school district, private school, health clinic, congregate living or long term care facility, workplace, or other organizations with any level of a licensed health care professional on staff can participate in this program, the health department said.

Here’s how it works. The participating organization’s licensed health professions will swab both nostrils “to the point of resistance.” Results are available in 15 minutes,

Each participating health care professional is required to use the following personal Protective Equipment: a fit-tested N-95 respirator, a face shield, and gown and gloves.

Twenty organizations are currently participating. The more organizations that sign up (20 are currently participating), the more BINAXNow rapid tests that Will County will continue to receive.

For more information, e-mail the Will County Health Department at Binaxtests@willcountyhealth.org.

In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) on Wednesday for its virtually guided at-home use of its BINAXNow rapid test for detection of COVID-19 infection, according to a new release from Abbott, the maker of the test.

The test takes just 15 minutes to use and results are available in minutes; no need to package the test and ship to a lab. The test costs $25 and is available to order through the eMed service through Abbott’s NAVICA app, a news release from Abbott said.

The app is available in English and Spanish and can be downloaded from the Apple and and android the app stores, according to Abbott.