Government Boosts Program to Offer Households Additional Free COVID Tests

Government Boosts Program , to Offer Households Additional , Free COVID Tests.

ABC reports that the government will offer households an additional four free COVID-19 tests ahead of the approaching holiday season and a potential rise in cases.

The offer, available at covidtests.gov, is one of the last remaining ways for people in the U.S. to obtain free at-home rapid tests.

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Last spring, the end of the public health emergency also ended insurance companies' requirement to provide eight tests per month.

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Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health officials have anticipated a similar number of hospitalizations in 2023 as there were last year.

In 2022, hospitalizations peaked at almost 45,000 per week.

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In September, the government relaunched its test ordering site, offering four tests for every household.

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The government has now offered an additional four tests, bringing the total number of at-home tests to eight per household.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) says that about 14.5 million households have ordered tests since the site relaunched, equalling 58 million free tests distributed.

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Health officials have said that the tests are meant to help people prepare for gatherings, particularly with those more vulnerable to COVID.

We're going to see families gather with older loved ones and younger loved ones and it's important that they are able to protect their loved ones from COVID as we head into the winter months, Dawn O'Connell, Head of ASPR, via ABC.

We're going to see families gather with older loved ones and younger loved ones and it's important that they are able to protect their loved ones from COVID as we head into the winter months, Dawn O'Connell, Head of ASPR, via ABC