US begins offering free at-home Covid tests
The Biden administration is restarting a program that has provided hundreds of millions of free tests through the Postal Service.
The Biden administration, anticipating a possible winter surge of Covid-19, announced Wednesday that it is restarting its program of offering Americans free coronavirus tests by mail and that it will spend 600 million dollars to purchase tests from a dozen national testing centers. manufacturers.
The program's website, covidtests.gov, will begin accepting orders Monday and households will receive four tests. Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the money would fund the purchase of 200 million tests to replenish the nation's stocks as sending out the tests.
But a byproduct of the program, Ms. O'Connell said, is that it will bolster domestic manufacturing capacity in the event of new serious outbreak of coronavirus. And if there is an increase in demand, she said, the ministry has given manufacturers permission to sell the tests directly to retailers ahead of the government.
Coronavirus hospitalizations have been increasing in the United States, although they remain low compared to previous periods of the pandemic, and free testing is now harder to obtain for many Americans. While private insurers were previously required to cover up to eight at-home tests per month, that requirement ended when the Biden administration allowed the public health emergency for the coronavirus to expire in May.
The administration began offering free at-home coronavirus testing through the Postal Service early last year after the Omicron variant caused a spike in cases. More than 600 million tests were distributed before authorities shut down the program at the end of the summer, citing a lack of funding. The administration then began offering testing again late last year before halting the program again this spring.
Wednesday's announcement is came as President Biden's Health Secretary Xavier Becerra tried to drum up interest in the newly approved coronavirus vaccines by getting Covid and flu shots at a CVS pharmacy in Washington. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last week that all Americans aged 6 months and older receive at least one dose of the reformulated Covid vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
With the chief executives of Pfizer and Moderna at his side, Mr. Becerra spoke of his own mother, who is about to turn 90 and, he said, has not had Covid -19.
"I feel comfortable, after receiving the vaccines, being able to hug and kiss my mother without being responsible for making her sick," said he declared, adding: “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
The Biden administration is restarting a program that has provided hundreds of millions of free tests through the Postal Service.
The Biden administration, anticipating a possible winter surge of Covid-19, announced Wednesday that it is restarting its program of offering Americans free coronavirus tests by mail and that it will spend 600 million dollars to purchase tests from a dozen national testing centers. manufacturers.
The program's website, covidtests.gov, will begin accepting orders Monday and households will receive four tests. Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the money would fund the purchase of 200 million tests to replenish the nation's stocks as sending out the tests.
But a byproduct of the program, Ms. O'Connell said, is that it will bolster domestic manufacturing capacity in the event of new serious outbreak of coronavirus. And if there is an increase in demand, she said, the ministry has given manufacturers permission to sell the tests directly to retailers ahead of the government.
Coronavirus hospitalizations have been increasing in the United States, although they remain low compared to previous periods of the pandemic, and free testing is now harder to obtain for many Americans. While private insurers were previously required to cover up to eight at-home tests per month, that requirement ended when the Biden administration allowed the public health emergency for the coronavirus to expire in May.
The administration began offering free at-home coronavirus testing through the Postal Service early last year after the Omicron variant caused a spike in cases. More than 600 million tests were distributed before authorities shut down the program at the end of the summer, citing a lack of funding. The administration then began offering testing again late last year before halting the program again this spring.
Wednesday's announcement is came as President Biden's Health Secretary Xavier Becerra tried to drum up interest in the newly approved coronavirus vaccines by getting Covid and flu shots at a CVS pharmacy in Washington. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last week that all Americans aged 6 months and older receive at least one dose of the reformulated Covid vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
With the chief executives of Pfizer and Moderna at his side, Mr. Becerra spoke of his own mother, who is about to turn 90 and, he said, has not had Covid -19.
"I feel comfortable, after receiving the vaccines, being able to hug and kiss my mother without being responsible for making her sick," said he declared, adding: “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
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