COVID-19 home test kits are pictured in a store window through the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic within the Manhattan borough of Recent York City, Recent York, U.S., January 19, 2022.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
The Biden administration on Monday said it’s offering one other round of free at-home Covid tests to U.S. households ahead of the vacation season, when more people gather indoors and the virus typically spreads at higher levels.
Starting Monday, Americans can use COVIDtests.gov to request 4 free tests per household. Those that haven’t ordered any tests this fall can now place two orders for a complete of eight tests, in line with the web site.
The administration in September allowed people to request an initial round of 4 free tests through the location, resuming a federal program that temporarily shut down during a political fight over Covid funding.
At-home tests are a critical tool to guard against the virus, especially now that lab PCR tests — the normal approach to detecting Covid — have change into dearer and fewer accessible because the government ended the general public health emergency in May.
But demand for tests, together with Covid vaccines and coverings, has plummeted during the last 12 months as cases and public concern concerning the virus dwindled from earlier within the pandemic.
Only a small share of Americans look like fearful about Covid disrupting their holiday plans this fall and winter.
About 3 in 10 Americans said they’re concerned they’ll get seriously sick from Covid or will spread the virus to people near them over the vacations, in line with a poll released Friday by health policy research organization KFF.
Lower than half were concerned concerning the potential for one more Covid surge through the winter, which has occurred in previous years of the pandemic, the poll said.
Still, signs of a winter Covid wave are emerging.
Greater than 16,200 Americans were hospitalized within the week ending Nov. 11, in line with the newest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks an 8.6% increase from the previous week.
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