The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will revive a program that offers free rapid coronavirus tests to Americans.
Beginning Monday, you can request four free tests per household by going to covidtests.gov.
The announcement comes as the country has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases.
According to the administration, the tests are able to detect the latest coronavirus variants and are intended to be used through the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was awarding $600 million to several coronavirus test manufacturers to provide the federal government with 200 million over-the-counter tests to use in the future.
“These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
Federal officials said they mailed 755 million free tests in the first four rounds of giveaways, The Associated Press reported.
Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Washington Post that the return of free testing is a “welcome development.”
“The first thing in public health is to know your status,” Gonsalves said. “We only have tools if we have the resources to access them, and many people don’t have the ability to go to buy a pack of tests when they cost $25 or $20 to get at the pharmacy.”
Insurance companies were required to pay for testing until President Joe Biden declared the COVID-19 emergency over last May.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that the updated COVID-19 vaccine is available. You can find one at a pharmacy near you by clicking here, or by calling 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489).
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
