Following a summer season uptick of COVID-19 infections, People will quickly be capable to order free COVID-19 exams this fall.
The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies has not but supplied an official date that the nasal swab exams shall be accessible, however says kits ought to be able to order by the tip of September. The initiative is rolling out forward of the vacation season, when colds, flus and different sicknesses grow to be extra widespread.
Households will be capable to get hold of 4 free antigen COVID-19 exams by visiting COVIDtests.gov, a repeat of the 2023 program. And the division says that these exams will be capable to “detect present COVID-19 variants and can be utilized via the tip of the 12 months,” in keeping with its web site.
The most recent knowledge from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention discovered that take a look at positivity for COVID-19 stood at 14.9%, a lower from the 17.8% excessive reached in August, although that quantity continues to be elevated. By comparability, in Might, positivity hovered round 3-4%.
On Monday, the web site to order the exams seemed to be down as a result of “an excessive amount of site visitors or a configuration error.”
In 2023, 900 million COVID-10 exams went out to People via this system, in keeping with U.S. Well being and Human Companies.
Final month, U.S. regulators authorized an up to date COVID-19 vaccine that seeks to fight the KP variant pressure, the predominant variant that has been circulating. People as younger as 6 months shall be eligible to obtain the shot.
“Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Middle for Biologics Analysis and Analysis mentioned in a press launch. “Given waning immunity of the inhabitants from earlier publicity to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those that are eligible to think about receiving an up to date COVID-19 vaccine to offer higher safety in opposition to presently circulating variants.”
