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FERRIDAY — Trinity Medical will be handing out COVID-19 home test kits to the community at locations in Vidalia and Ferriday on Monday.

The distribution is scheduled to last from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday at Vidalia Multicomplex on Vernon Stephens Boulevard and the Trinity Medical Clinic in Ferriday at 204 Serio Blvd.

Kits will be given out on a first-come-first-serve basis. One kit, each containing two tests, will be issued per vehicle.

The tests are free to everyone, sponsored by the Health Resources and Service Administration to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, said Trinity Marketing Director Brandy Spears.

“I was not given and exact number of how many tests will be given out but I’m told there will be plenty to go around,” she said.

Spears said Trinity Medical tests for COVID-19 daily at its ER and four clinics and about half of patients tested are testing positive.

While most patients who contract COVID do not require hospitalization, Spears said Trinity Medical’s hospital is equipped with five beds for COVID-19 patients that require hospitalization and all of those beds are full. Two of the five beds are ICU beds, she said.

Spears said they recommend isolating and waiting until you have COVID-19 symptoms before taking a COVID-19 test.

“Generally, what we see is people testing too early with any COVID test whether it’s at home or in our clinic and testing negative and come to find out later they have COVID,” she said. “We recommend waiting until you are symptomatic before testing.”

Should you receive a positive test result from an at home test, Spears said to follow up with your primary care physician and let them know about your test result and let them recommend whatever therapy or treatment is right for you.

For those who do not need immediate testing, free COVID-19 home test kits can also be ordered and mailed to you by visiting www.covidtests.gov.