Thousands of at-home COVID-19 testing kits given away in DeKalb County

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Hundreds of people lined up Thursday morning as DeKalb County gave away 5,000 COVID-19 at-home testing kits.

Throughout metro Atlanta, the state of Georgia and the U.S. people have struggled to get tested to see if they may have caught the omicron variant of COVID-19.

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Residents of DeKalb County could pick up testing kits at three locations around the county.

• South DeKalb Mall, 2801 Candler Rd., Decatur 30034
• North DeKalb Mall, 2050 Lawrenceville Hwy., Decatur 30033
• Plaza Fiesta, 4166 Buford Hwy., Atlanta 30345

More than 45 minutes before the giveaway was set to begin at 9 a.m., more than 250 cars were already lined up at the South DeKalb Mall location.

By 9:30 a.m., almost all of the kits had been given away.

Because of severe weather conditions, the DeKalb County Department of Public Health was forced to close down the Doraville MARTA vaccination site, as well as testing sites at Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church and in the parking lot of the North DeKalb Health Center.

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