Vicksburg residents lined up at the Robert M. Walker Building Thursday to receive free COVID tests from the city distributed by The City of Vicksburg Champions, Vicksburg’s COVID and health-literacy program.

Each person received five free at-home tests.

“We’re almost out (of tests); we’re probably down to about 1,000 left today, but I’m sure we’re going to be out by the end of the day,” project director Felicia Kent said at 3:15 p.m. Thursday. She anticipated a total of 2,100 would be distributed Thursday.

Kent said 1,000 tests will be distributed “as long as supplies last” on Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the boardroom of the Walker Building, located at 1415 Walnut St.

Kent said an additional 5,000 COVID tests have been ordered from the Mississippi State Department of Health.

“Everything happened so fast,” she said, adding the tests were delivered Wednesday afternoon “and immediately, within an hour, we started getting the word out and delivering them to the residents,” Kent said 1,500 tests were distributed in a two-hour period.

“It’s a beautiful thing for the community to be able to provide a needed service, and I think a lot of the residents were really happy we were able to provide that service to them,” she said.

City of Vicksburg Champions is funded by a $3 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

The two-year initiative is designed to advance health literacy and enhance equitable community responses to COVID-19 while identifying and implementing the best practices for improving health literacy in Vicksburg. It is a partnership between Jackson State University, Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center and the city.