$600M set aside for home covid tests
U.S. residents will be able to order up to four of them free for each household
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has announced that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home covid-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household — aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months.
The Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Monday, and that nocost tests will be delivered free by the United States Postal Service.
Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states from California to Maryland have been awarded funding and will produce 200 million over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the department said.
The new effort is meant to guard against supply chain issues that sparked some shortages of at-home covid tests made overseas during past surges in coronavirus cases. But it also illustrates the political balance President Joe Biden is trying to strike as he seeks reelection next year between trumpeting his administration having led the country through the worst of the pandemic while also trying to better prepare for the continued effects of a virus that persists.
Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at Health and Human Services, said that though some portions of the public may be tired of the pandemic and its implications, at home-testing remains a key way to slow the spread of new cases.
“Whether or not people are done with it, we know the virus is there, we know that it’s circulating. We know, if past is prologue, it’ll circulate to a higher degree and spread, and cases will go up in the fall and winter seasons,” she said. “Anticipating that that would be true again, or something similar, we want to make sure the American people have these tools.”
O’Connell said the website will remain functional to receive orders through the holidays and “we reserve the right to keep it open even longer if we’re starting to see an increase in cases.”
“If there is a demand for these tests, we want to make sure that they’re made available to the American people for free in this way,” O’Connell said. “But, at this point, our focus is getting through the holidays and making sure folks can take a test if they’re going to see Grandma for Thanksgiving.”
The tests are designed to detect covid variants currently circulating and are intended for use by the end of the year, but they will include instructions on how to verify extended expiration dates, the department said.
The initiative follows four previous rounds where federal officials and the U.S. Postal Service provided more than 755 million free tests to homes nationwide.
It is also meant to complement ongoing federal efforts to provide free covid tests to long-term care facilities, schools, low-income senior housing, uninsured individuals and underserved communities that are already distributing 4 million per week and have distributed 500 million tests to date, the department said.
O’Connell said manufacturers would be able to spread out the 200 million tests they will produce for federal use over 18 months.