Biden Administration Makes More Free Covid Tests Available
The Biden administration is offering another round of free at-home Covid tests to U.S. households ahead of the holiday season, when more people gather indoors and the virus typically spreads at higher levels. Via CNBC News:
Starting Monday, Americans can use COVIDtests.gov to request four free tests. Those who have not ordered any tests this fall can now place two orders for a total of eight tests, according to the website.
The administration in September allowed people to request an initial round of four free tests through the site, resuming a federal program that temporarily shut down during a political fight over Covid funding.
At-home tests are a critical tool to protect against the virus, especially now that lab PCR tests — the traditional method of detecting Covid — have become more expensive and less accessible since the government ended the public health emergency in May.
But demand for tests, along with Covid vaccines and treatments, has plummeted over the last year as cases and public concern about the virus dwindled from earlier in the pandemic.
Better to have them and not need them, right?