September 21, 2023
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Disclosures:
Becerra reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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Key takeaways:
- Free at-home COVID-19 tests will be available for order starting on Sept. 25.
- A $600 million investment in domestic home test manufacturing is expected to shore up U.S. supplies.
Free at-home COVID-19 tests will be available for mail order again in the United States beginning on Monday, Sept. 25.
U.S. households will be able to order four free COVID-19 tests at COVIDTests.gov. The tests will be able to detect currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, HHS said.
A fifth round of free at-home COVID-19 tests will be available for order beginning Sept. 25. Image: Adobe Stock
The Biden administration also announced a $600 million investment in 12 U.S. companies to manufacture and ship roughly 200 million over-the-counter home COVID-19 tests.
It will be the fifth round of free tests distributed by the U.S. government, which has sent out more than 755 million COVID-19 tests since the start of the pandemic. The last free test program was launched in December 2022 after weeks of growing numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
According to CDC tracking, there was a 7.7% increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the U.S. from Sept. 3 to 9, the most recent week with available data. There was a 4.5% increase in COVID-19-related deaths.
The CDC recently recommended new COVID-19 vaccines for people aged 6 months and older, which target new subvariants of SARS-CoV-2.
References:
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