Key changes in COVID testing as federal funding ends
Starting Wednesday, people looking to get a COVID-19 test through the Yale New Haven Health will need to book an appointment in advance, according to the hospital system.
The change comes as federal funding is ending for COVID testing at health care systems, the hospital system said. Testing will still be available to patients, but their insurance will now be billed, according to YNHH.
The hospital system said it is “looking to provide an alternative for our patients who do not have insurance,” according to the FAQ section of the health system’s website.
The announcement from Yale comes as the Biden administration has said in recent days it plans to divert remaining federal COVID-19 dollars away from testing and protective equipment due to lack of new funding from Congress. The money will instead go toward purchasing a new round of vaccines and therapeutics ahead of an expected surge of cases this fall.
“We’re going to give up domestic testing capacity, something that you all know we worked so hard to build through delta and omicron,” Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Dawn O’Connell, said during a White House COVID-19 news briefing last week. “We’re also not going to be able to do out-year support for the PPE warehousing and supplies that we’ve worked so hard to build.”
Free testing is still available in Connecticut at state-sponsored sites, some of which advertise walk-in availability, or have testing available on weekends. Department
of Public Health spokesperson Chris Boyle said the state has reduced its testing sites from 27 to 20 as hospitalizations decline. As of Tuesday, the state reported 282 patients hospitalized with the virus, 12 fewer than the previous week.
“We plan on staying with 20 for the foreseeable future,” Boyle said. “We can ramp up pretty quickly if we experience another uptick.”
Major pharmacies offer free or low-cost testing, and free rapid tests have been made available through the mail from the federal government. The cost of over-thecounter tests can also be reimbursed through a patient’s health insurance.
Connecticut has seen a recent decline in its positive tests.
On Tuesday, the state reported 3,482 cases among the 45,261 tests administered for a seven-day positivity rate of 7.69 percent down from 9.63 percent last week. These statistics do not include at-home tests, which are not reported to public health entities.