Chautauqua County is distributing at home COVID-19 test kits and KN95 masks, which it received from New York state, to local municipalities. The municipalities that requested the test kits and masks will then organize their own distribution efforts to get the items out to their residents.

This effort is part of Chautauqua County’s multi-layered approach to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during this period of heightened community transmission. The goal is to get test kits and facemasks out to residents of Chautauqua County in an equitable and efficient manner.

The city of Jamestown will receive 500 test kits, the city of Dunkirk will receive 250 test kits, each town will receive 100 test kits, and each village will receive 50 test kits.

The Chautauqua County Office of Emergency Services began delivering the items to local municipalities last week and all municipalities who requested the items will receive their deliveries by the end of this week. “I thank our mayors and supervisors for stepping up to assist with distributing these masks and test kits across the County,” said Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel. “Our goal is to make these items available in areas that are easily accessible to the public and our local municipalities are the perfect partner for this. Some of these supplies may also be helpful for our local municipalities to keep their employees safe and to allow them to continue providing important services to their constituents.”

Chautauqua County encourages residents to contact their local municipalities to see if they are participating in this program and to find out more about the distribution planned for their community.

Chautauqua County continues to advise residents to wear masks while in indoor public locations, especially when social distancing is not possible, as part of a multi-layered COVID-19 mitigation strategy. Chautauqua County also strongly recommends frequent hand washing, social distancing, staying home when ill, and being tested for COVID-19.