U.S. offering free Covid test kits to nation
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, all Americans can log on to a government website and order free, at-home Covid-19 tests. But the White House push may do little to ease the omicron surge, and experts say Washington will have to do a lot more to fix the country's long-troubled testing system.
The website, COVIDTests.gov, allows people to order four athome tests per household and have them delivered by mail. But the tests won't arrive for seven to 12 days, after omicron cases are expected to peak in many parts of the U.S.
The White House also announced Wednesday that it will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free at pharmacies and community health centers. Both initiatives represent the kind of mass government investments long seen in parts of Europe and Asia, but delayed in the U.S.
Experts say the plan to distribute 1 billion tests is a good first step, but it must become a regular part of the pandemic response. In the same way that it has made vaccines are free and plentiful, the government must use its purchasing power to assure a steady test supply, they say.
"The playbook for rapid tests should look exactly like the playbook for vaccines," said Zoe McLaren, a health economist at the University Maryland. "They're both things that help keep cases down and help keep COVID under control."
The U.S. bungled its initial rollout of government-made Covid-19 tests in the early days of the outbreak and has never really gotten back on track. While private companies are now producing more than 250 million at-home tests per month, that is still not enough to allow most Americans to frequently test themselves.
The Biden administration focused most of its early Covid-19 efforts on rolling out vaccines. As infections fell last spring, demand for testing plummeted and many manufacturers began shutting down plants. Only in September — after the delta surge was in full swing — did the Biden administration announce its first federal contracts designed to jumpstart home test production.