The Keep Croydon Safe (KCS) champions, provided by Croydon Council’s public health team, are out every day in their rapid testing vans spreading awareness of the importance of regular testing for Covid-19, even if you are asymptomatic.
The KCS champions offer people a rapid lateral flow test on the day, with results provided in 30-minutes. They also hand out home-testing kits, information on the vaccines and the benefits of regularly testing for the virus, whether or not you have symptoms.
Introduced at the end of December, the vans are supporting communities that find it hard to access Covid-19 lateral flow tests (LFTs), such as communities with residents that may have a language barrier, lack of access to technology for online ordering of tests or those who simply need assistance with testing.
The vans are complementing the testing gazebos that have popped up in 20 locations across the borough since September 2021. During the past six months, the KCS champions have had over 95,000 conversations with residents, supervised more than 15,000 lateral flow tests and identified over 100 cases of Covid-19, breaking many chains of transition. This has helped to ensure that everyone in Croydon can get tests, and help with testing, when they need them.
The Keep Croydon Safe-branded testing vans are highly-visible and mobile, allowing our team to quickly react to situations where their presence will help and are enabling assisted LFTs to be carried out in all kinds of weather.
See the schedule of our pop-ups and vans here.
Rachel Flowers, director of public health for Croydon, said: “Rapid testing is a really important part of our defence. Even if you have no symptoms, one in three of you could still have coronavirus and risk passing it to people you care about.
“I want to say a big thank you to all of our KCS champions, who continue to keep our borough safe every day. You help thousands of residents stay safe and prevent the virus spreading in our communities. Thanks to everyone who has also visited our champions, you are helping Croydon to keep moving in the right direction through the pandemic.
“If you are out and about in Croydon and you see our champions on the street, feel free to speak with them and complete a free lateral flow test.”
