West Virginia begins to scale back on testing sites as availability of at home testing grows

West Virginia is scaling back its community testing events for the coronavirus, Gov. Jim Justice said.

Justice said Thursday that the decision was made due to the availability and convenience of at-home test kits for COVID-19. The state has provided free community testing since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

People who have symptoms or have been exposed to someone with the virus can still find testing sites at places such as pharmacies and participating health departments and medical centers.

“There are still plenty of places out there where you can find access to free testing. But, to be perfectly honest, what’s happening right now with our community testing events is that they’re set up all day, but maybe only two people come by,” Justice said. “We’re just spending money that could be better spent somewhere else right now. That said, if things happen to get worse, we’ll be right back out there.”

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The state has a map of available testing sites on the Department of Health and Human Resources’ website.