Every family in the US will be entitled to free Covid tests again from next WEEK as part of $600million project to prevent winter wave
- Every American household can request four free at-home Covid tests next week
- Program aims to prevent winter surge of cases
- READ MORE: Covid infection rates ALREADY falling in parts of the US
The Biden administration will once again offer free at-home Covid testing to all U.S. households starting next week.
The program, which will cost $600 million, will aim to combat the winter surge of Covid cases, which are on the rise amid the Eris and BA.2.86 variants.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said, “We will restart our program to provide Americans with the opportunity to request testing. »
Starting September 25 and lasting through the end of the year, every U.S. household can request four rapid tests at covidtests.gov.
Starting September 25, every U.S. household can order up to four free Covid tests at covidtests.gov
To date, the Biden administration has shipped more than 755 million free Covid tests across the United States. The program was previously suspended in May after the administration declared an end to the Covid public health emergency in order to preserve its supply of tests.
These tests are intended to be used for the rest of the year and will include instructions on checking expiration dates, HHS announced Wednesday. Many tests sent before the program ended earlier this year are likely now expired, making them less accurate.
The administration’s funding will go to 12 manufacturers in New Jersey, California, Texas, Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Official data shows the rate of increase in Covid-related hospitalizations has also slowed, having increased by 7.7% in the latest week for which data is available – marking the slowest rise since early July, when hospitalizations were at an all-time high.
The latest data shows there were 20,538 Covid admissions to US hospitals in the week to September 9.
There are also signs that Covid deaths are starting to stabilize.
A total of 844 were recorded in the week to August 19, the latest available. Data for the following week is incomplete, but it currently suggests that 860 virus-related deaths were recorded during this period, an increase of 1.8 percent.
However, experts expect an increase in cases during the winter months, especially as viruses like the flu circulate.