Americans will be able to order free rapid coronavirus tests Wednesday on new federal website
A federal website where Americans can order free coronavirus rapid tests will be launched Wednesday and allow each household to order up to four tests, senior administration officials said Friday.
The website, called covidtests.gov, will require that users provide their names and addresses to receive the tests. The government purchased 500 million rapid tests that will be available to every household, and will limit to four the number of tests sent to each address, the senior officials said during a briefing with reporters.
At-home covid tests and omicron: What you need to know
The officials said the tests would be shipped within seven to 12 days after being ordered, a timeline that experts say means the tests probably will become available too late to significantly blunt the impact of the current omicron surge along the Eastern Seaboard, where the outbreak may be beginning to slow. But the tests could make a difference to the parts of the country that have yet to face the worst of the surge.
President Biden announced Thursday that the government would purchase an additional 500 million tests to help prepare for future surges, meaning the government will eventually make 1 billion free tests available. The senior officials said the White House has worked closely with the U.S. Postal Service to help set up the website and ensure the tests can be distributed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/americans-will-be-able-to-order-free-rapid-coronavirus-tests-wednesday-on-new-federal-website/ar-AASNi9S
Biden administration to launch website for free 500 million COVID-19 testing kits on Wednesday
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Wednesday will launch a website where Americans can order up to four free COVID-19 testing kits per person, according to a senior administration official.
The tests, part of the Biden administration's purchase of 500 million tests last month to help tackle a record surge in infections, will be available at COVIDTest.gov and mailed to homes within 7-12 days through the U.S. Postal Service, according to the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of the announcement.
President Joe Biden announced earlier this week the administration would double its order to 1 billion at-home COVID-19 tests amid a shortage of tests nationwide as U.S. cases spike. The second batch of testing kits will also be distributed for free through the website, officials said.
The White House is ramping up efforts to make testing more accessible and affordable after facing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over the lack of inventory of COVID-19 tests as the highly transmissible omicron variant ripped across the country, shuttering schools, overwhelming hospitals and frustrating Americans exhausted by two years of an ongoing pandemic.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/biden-administration-to-launch-website-for-free-500-million-covid-19-testing-kits-on-wednesday/ar-AASN1na
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