8 more free at-home virus tests per person approved by the feds
Americans are eligible to order eight more free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government in an effort to prevent larger surges of the deadly virus.
Tuesday’s announcement from the Biden administration kicks off the third round of free test availability on the federal website COVIDTests.gov.
“As the highly transmissible subvariants of omicron drive a rise in cases in parts of the country, free and accessible tests will help slow the spread of the virus,” the White House said in its announcement.
Americans were eligible to receive four free tests in each of the previous two rounds of availability. President Biden announced in January his goal of making 1 billion free COVID-19 tests available to people in the U.S.
“Since then, over 70 million households have visited COVIDTests.gov to order at-home tests to be mailed directly to them,” the White House said. “To date, the administration has delivered approximately 350 million free tests to mailboxes and doorsteps across the country, in U.S. territories, and at overseas military bases, with most tests delivered by the U.S. Postal Service within 48 hours of shipping.”
The announcement comes a day after the official death toll from COVID-19 reached the grisly milestone of 1 million Americans, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Experts believe the true death toll is even higher due to undiagnosed cases.
The city plans to distribute 16 million at-home COVID tests and 1 million masks for free over the next month, Mayor Adams announced Monday. Anti-viral medications can also be acquired by New Yorkers through a hotline set up by the city.
Adams upgraded the city’s COVID alert status to high risk Tuesday.
The U.S. has recorded more than 82 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began more than two years ago, which is the most of any country.
“Since January 2021, the Biden administration has taken significant action and invested resources provided by Congress to dramatically increase domestic COVID-19 testing manufacturing, the number of tests authorized for use in the U.S., and the number of places where Americans can get a test, as well as to decrease costs for consumers and increase access to free tests,” the White House said Tuesday.