The federal government is again offering free at-home COVID-19 test kits to Americans as the number of cases of new coronavirus variants continues to rise across the country. Individuals and households will be able to start ordering test kits later this month in response to the summer coronavirus outbreak.
The Biden administration restarted the same program last fall after pausing it to conserve testing supplies. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, has resumed accepting orders for at-home coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests through its website COVIDTests.gov.
Once an order is placed, the U.S. Postal Service will ship the test kits directly to people's homes.
Each U.S. household will be allowed to order up to four test kits. The commercially available kit detects current variants of the coronavirus and will be available until the end of the year, HHS said. These are scheduled to begin shipping the week of September 30th, providing an at-home testing option ahead of the holiday season, when families often travel for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other celebrations. The purpose is
The program's website encourages people to check test expiration dates against the FDA's latest guidance on test expiration dates. Some test kits with expiration dates may actually still give accurate results, even if they are from the past.
HHS encourages testing for COVID-19 so that people infected with the virus can receive treatment, self-isolate, and take other steps, such as wearing masks, to avoid infecting others. I am. To date, federal programs have distributed more than 900 million tests to American households.
Purchasing this test over-the-counter at drug stores across the country can be expensive, putting it out of reach for many families. For example, Abbott's BinaxNow COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test 2-Pack costs $18.99 on CVS.com.
Other government efforts aimed at stopping the spread of the virus include a new vaccination effort. The government is encouraging residents to receive additional COVID-19 vaccinations in preparation for the fall and winter respiratory virus season.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the latest coronavirus vaccine formulations from Pfizer and Moderna, which are now being administered in pharmacies across the country. The FDA has since authorized Novavax's new protein-based coronavirus vaccine, making it available to patients.
coronavirus pandemic
Megan Cerullo
