Several State Health Initiatives for COVID-19 Testing are Winding Down

Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(By Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) After three years of increased public health efforts, several state health initiatives for COVID-19 testing are winding down.

According to Hope Kirwan with Wisconsin Public Radio, the state Department of Health Services announced last week that the Community Testing Support Program will end April 15.

The program was created in 2021 to help pharmacies like Walgreens, local and tribal health departments and other organizations provide free COVID-19 testing in every county in the state. Since then, the initiative has provided almost 3 million tests in nearly 300 locations.

Traci DeSalvo, director of DHS's Bureau of Communicable Diseases, said the program was launched at a time when COVID-19 tests were more difficult to obtain and were primarily PCR tests that are processed by a lab. She said preferences for how people want to get tested have also changed.

"What we've really seen is a significant increase in the availability of at-home antigen tests and a corresponding decrease in people who are looking to find testing at one of these community sites," she said.

DeSalvo said DHS has seen significant demand for at-home tests through their Say Yes! COVID Test program, which launched in September 2022. In February, DHS doubled the amount of self-tests residents could order each month, from one kit with five rapid antigen tests to two kits, or a total of 10 tests, at a time.

"Really the goal is just that everyone in Wisconsin has access to tests, and we want to make that as easy and convenient as possible for people," DeSalvo said. She said the department expects their current inventory of at-home tests to run out in April or May, which will likely be the end of the program.

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