At-home antigen tests for COVID-19 have been disappearing from store shelves as fast as they’re restocked, but Santa Clara County officials said Friday they are making 60,000 available free to order online.

A total of 15,000 appointments starting Saturday for those who live, work, or attend school in the county to pick up four tests each at sites around the county now can be scheduled through the county’s testing website, sccfreetest.org. Appointments are limited to one per person.

County officials said they expect appointments to go quickly, as demand has skyrocketed amid a surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus.

“While we are starting to see a decrease in the omicron surge, it is important to know our prevalence of circulating COVID virus in the community is still very, very high,” said Dr. Jennifer Tong, Associate Chief Medical Officer at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. “At home testing is another tool in our toolbox to help us fight the ongoing surge and keep our community safe and healthy.”

The county also will be distributing tests door to door in through community based organizations in order to make the tests available to communities where computer access is more limited “to make sure there’s equitable distribution to those might need these tests,” Tong said.

Those who schedule appointments will be assigned a unique QR code which must be displayed to receive the tests. Tests are not available on a drop-in basis without an appointment.

Pick-up sites are designed for drive-through operation, but people also can arrive without a vehicle and get the tests so long as they have an appointment. The sites are at Hellyer County Park and Martial Cottle Park in San Jose, Vasona County Park in Los Gatos and Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.

The 15,000 appointments will be scheduled between Saturday January 22 and Saturday January 29, after which county officials will assess whether the program can be expanded based on availability of tests and community need.

The county recommends that the antigen tests be used for those who have symptoms of COVID-19 or to end isolation or quarantine periods early for those who have tested positive, or for those who have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 if a PCR test is not available.

If an antigen test result is positive, it should be treated as valid and isolation guidance should be followed. There is no need in that case for a follow-up PCR test.

Tong said the at-home tests are especially useful for those looking to stop quarantining, because PCR tests are too sensitive and slow.

“Those PCR tests continue to pick up dead virus particles for many weeks and months,” Tong said. “The preferred test for that is an antigen test, which is type of test in these at-home tests.”