January 3, 2021 3:25 a.m.

Oregon has made its largest order yet of COVID-19 tests.

A release from the Oregon Health Authority said the tests will be offered to people around the state for free so they can find out, at home, if they are carrying the virus, and take steps to prevent its spread.

Last Wednesday OHA placed an order with iHealth Labs for 6 million of its COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test kits. Each kit contains 2 tests – amounting to a total of 12 million tests coming to the state – that can be performed at home, with results available in 15 minutes.

The release said OHA’s previous largest order was for about 1.46 million Abbott BinaxNOW rapid tests. The agency has distributed nearly 1.3 million tests to almost 400 community partners and more than 1,300 K-12 schools.

OHA said the kits will be distributed throughout January and will begin arriving this week at its warehouse in Wilsonville. It will prioritize distribution to these partners so they can disseminate them to numerous partner agencies and organizations:

*Local public health authorities and Tribes

*Migrant and seasonal farm and agriculture workers

*Head-Start and some other high-risk early learning settings

*K-12 schools to support at-home test to stay

*Health care workers

*Shelters

*Community-based organizations

The release said as the number of cases increase, rapid testing will be critical to efforts to encourage people to take steps to reduce transmission.