Despite the cold temperature out, last Saturday more than 6,000 home Covid Test kits were handed out to Cranstonians at Cranston High School West and Western Hills Middle School. The kits came from the Department of Health to each city and town.

With the help of Mayor Ken Hopkins, the Cranston City Council, School Department Members and both the Cranston Police and Fire Departments volunteered their time for the distribution of two kits per car, each containing two tests per box.

The distribution went smoothly with cars coming in and out in a one-way direction.

Cars started lining up around 9:30 a.m. and since the volunteers were ready, they handed out tests early to help alleviate the line. After the distribution ended, the City had 1,000 tests leftover, which were distributed between the senior center and emergency personnel (fire and police). Prior to Saturday’s distribution, the City had already allocated a number of tests to the library, senior center, police department, fire department, housing manors and schools; the majority, however, were distributed at two schools on Saturday. Chief of Staff Anthony Moretti said the City thought they would receive more tests and that ideally, the City would have liked to have a distribution site placed in each of the six wards. Since they did not have enough tests to do that, Moretti said Mayor Hopkins decided to have one site on the eastern half of the City and the other site on the western half; both locations were supplied with an equal number of tests.

As for the distribution, “It was virtually seamless,” said Moretti. “Couldn’t be more pleased.”

(Cranston Herald photos by Steve Popiel)