Baker-Polito Administration Announces Expansion through June of Targeted Free COVID-19 Testing Sites
3/09/2021
- Office of
Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito
- Executive Office
of Health and Human Services
- Department of
Public Health
- Governor's Press
Office
BOSTON — Today, the
Baker-Polito Administration announced an extension of the “Stop the Spread”
COVID-19 initiative, which provides free COVID-19 testing in communities across
the Commonwealth. The program, which was set to close on March 31, has been
extended through June 30, 2021.
Building
on Massachusetts’ nation-leading COVID-19 testing program, state-sponsored
testing will continue to be available to all Massachusetts residents at no cost
to them through June 30, 2021 at more than 35 locations. Testing is one of the
important public health tools, in addition to contact tracing, complying with
public health mitigation measures such as face coverings, physical distancing,
staying home when sick, and good hygiene, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Since
the state began this free virus testing in July 2020, more than 1.8 million
tests have been conducted at “Stop the Spread” locations as of March 3, 2021.
Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 virus tests conducted state-wide at all
testing providers since the pandemic began is more than 16.8 million.
The
Stop the Spread initiative is a data-driven effort to reduce the prevalence of
COVID-19 in communities across the Commonwealth. All state residents may visit
the locations even if they do not reside in the town or city where the testing
is being conducted.
The
statewide 7-day average of percent positivity for COVID-19 of individuals
tested as reported on Monday, March 8th, was 1.67%.
Residents
of the state may visit the following website to find testing locations: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/find-a-covid-19-test. Additional
information about COVID-19 testing, including why testing is important and what
you should do if your test is positive, can be found at www.mass.gov/GetTested.
