U.S. households can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from
the government website COVIDTests.gov beginning on Thursday as part
of the Biden administration’s efforts to tackle coronavirus
infections over the winter, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The White House said it would use existing funding to pay for
the tests since it has been unsuccessful so far in getting Congress
to pass a bill to put more money toward the U.S. COVID-19
response.
The free tests program was paused because officials wanted to
make sure there were enough tests available for a likely spike in
COVID cases in the winter, White House COVID-19 response
coordinator Ashish Jha said.
“We knew there will be a moment later in the year when COVID
cases would rise again. So we preserved the tests so we could have
them on hand for exactly this moment,” White House COVID-19
response coordinator Ashish Jha said on Thursday. “And if we don’t
get more funding, we won’t be able to send more tests out to the
American people.”
COVID-19 cases have risen significantly over the past couple of
weeks, and the United States is experiencing probably the worst flu
season in a decade, Jha said. The good news, he added, was evidence
that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases have been coming
down.
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