WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – American families can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the government website COVIDTests.gov starting on Thursday as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic this winter.
The White House said it will use available funds to pay for the tests since Congress has so far failed to pass a bill to put more money into America’s COVID-19 response.
The free testing program has been suspended because officials want to make sure there are enough tests available for potential COVID-19 cases this winter, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said. .
“We know that there will be a time later in the year when there will be a resurgence of COVID-19. So we have stored the tests so that we can have them on hand at that time,” said Mai. The White House’s COVID-19 response on Thursday. “And if we don’t get more funding, we won’t be able to send more tests to the American people.”
[1/3] Take-home COVID-19 testing kits provided by the District of Columbia government, which offer city residents four free home tests per day, are seen in this photo taken January 11, 2022 REUTERS /Evelyn Hockstein/Illustration
Cases of COVID-19 have increased dramatically in the past two weeks, and the United States is facing perhaps its worst flu season in a decade, Jha said. The good news, he said, is evidence that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is on the decline.
Earlier in the fall, hospitals were overwhelmed with children suffering from RSV, which poses a triple threat of infection.
The government will begin shipping orders for the new free tests in the week of December 19.
There will also be free testing at about 500 major food banks, the White House said.
The Biden administration faced criticism a year ago for failing to ensure adequate testing amid high COVID-19 rates and deaths. The government later purchased hundreds of millions of tests to provide to the public at no cost.
Reporting by Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu; Edited by Sandra Maler and Bill Berkrot
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