As Cases of new COVID-19 variant on the rise Across the United States, the federal government is once again offering Americans free home cleaning services COVID-19 test kitsIndividuals and households can begin ordering the test kits later this month, following a summer surge in COVID-19 cases.
The Biden administration restarted the same program Last fall, after a brief pause to conserve supplies of the test, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, has yet to say when it will resume taking orders for at-home COVID-19 tests through the COVIDTests.gov website.
Once the order is placed, the U.S. Postal Service ships the test kits directly to people’s homes.
When the site reopens, American households will be allowed to order up to four test kits each. The over-the-counter kits detect current COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year, according to HHS. The tests are expected to arrive in homes before the holiday season, when families often travel to gather for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other celebrations.
HHS is encouraging COVID-19 testing so that people who contract the virus can get treatment and isolate or take other steps, such as wearing a mask, to prevent infecting others. To date, the federal program has distributed more than 900 million tests to American households.
Tests can be expensive when purchased over the counter at pharmacies in the United States, making them unaffordable for many families. For example, a two-pack of Abbott’s BinaxNow COVID-19 antigen self-tests costs $18.99 on CVS.com.
Other government efforts to stem the spread of the virus include a new vaccination initiative. The government is encouraging residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to prepare for the fall and winter respiratory virus season. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration approved COVID-19 Vaccine Formulation Updates Pfizer and Moderna, which are currently being administered in pharmacies across the country.
