Mercer County Offers Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests

PRINCETON, NJ — Mercer County will now be offering free at-home COVID-19 testing for residents, county executive Brian M. Hughes announced on Wednesday.

The county decided to implement at-home testing as CDC predicts an increase in COVID cases during fall and winter.

“Testing for COVID-19 is necessary to identify and be able to isolate people with infections,” Hughes said.

“We expected fall to be a critical period with the arrival of cooler weather, and we’re already seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases throughout much of the state. I encourage anyone who is symptomatic or thinks they may have been exposed to the virus to take advantage of this convenient option of testing at home,” he said.

Residents who are 14-years or older, and anyone employed as a first responder or health care worker in Mercer, can now sign up to receive a free COVID-19 saliva test. This test will be administered at home through a partnership between the county and Vault Health Services of New Jersey.

Additionally, Mercer County will soon begin offering COVID-19 testing at pop-up mobile sites that visit different municipalities.

The saliva collection test has the same effectiveness as the nasal swab test, county officials said. It is not an antibody test, but is designed to determine if an individual is currently infected with COVID-19 and has the potential to infect others.

The test will be performed under the supervision of a Vault healthcare provider through a video telehealth visit, thus eliminating the risk of person-to-person exposure to the virus.

Residents seeking a test should visit www.mercercares.org to register.

They will be required to provide proof of residency or employment. After the eligibility is verified, they will receive a digital link to Vault’s webpage to request a county-funded test kit.

The kit will be shipped overnight with instructions on how to schedule a Zoom telehealth meeting with a healthcare worker who will give virtual instructions on properly collecting a saliva sample.

The sample will then be shipped to the Rutgers Clinical Genomics Laboratory for testing. Test results are expected to be returned within 72 hours, said officials.

If your test is positive, or if you have symptoms, call your health care professional. Any questions can be directed to HomeTesting@mercercounty.org.

When registering, individuals should have their health insurance card handy, but a lack of insurance will not prevent someone from using at-home COVID-19 testing.

Federal rules require the collection of insurance information to support the testing program. Under federal law, all forms of public and private insurance must cover FDA-approved COVID-19 tests with no out-of-pocket costs to insured persons.

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