Introduction
More free COVID tests will soon be accessible to everyone, federal health officials revealed on Friday. This comes as a summer surge in COVID cases starts to taper off as Americans prepare for yet another wave of infections this winter.
When the federal program reopens in late September, every household in the United States will be able to get up to four nasal swab tests, according to COVIDtests.gov.
An specific date for ordering to begin has not yet been disclosed by the U.S. agency that oversees the testing, Health and Human Services (HHS). The announcement stated that since the start of the epidemic, the program had directly given over 900 million tests to American households.
What to do next?
“COVID-19 testing can help you know if you have COVID-19 so you can decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps to lower your chances of spreading the virus to others,” according to the announcement from the HHS.
An HHS spokeswoman told CBS News that the tests may be ordered in advance of the holiday season, when family and friends get together indoors, and they will identify the viral types that are currently in circulation.
The announcement follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s clearance of Pfizer and Moderna’s modified mRNA COVID vaccinations for the fall season. It is anticipated that Novavax’s revised vaccine will be approved at some point this year.
The “updated 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine” is advised to be administered to all Americans six months of age and older by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Conclusion
According to official data, less than 25% of American adults received the COVID vaccine last fall, despite the fact that the majority of people are somewhat immune to the virus due to past infections or immunizations, as CBS News reported.
Despite a sharp decline in fatalities and serious infections since the epidemic started in 2020, hospital admissions have begun to rise in recent weeks, according to CDC data. The virus has killed over a million Americans in total.
