Ahead of the holiday season, when more people congregate indoors and the virus usually spreads at higher levels, the Biden administration announced on Monday that it is providing another round of free at-home Covid tests to American households.
US citizens can request four free COVID tests per household starting on Monday by visiting COVIDtests.gov. As per the website, individuals who have not placed any orders for tests this autumn can now do so twice, for a total of eight tests.
In September, the administration reopened a federal program that had been temporarily discontinued due to a political dispute over Covid funding by enabling individuals to request a free first round of four tests via the website.
Since lab PCR tests, the conventional method of detecting Covid, have become more costly and less widely available since the government ended the public health emergency in May, at-home tests are an essential tool for protecting against the virus.
However, over the past year, as the number of cases and public concern about the virus has decreased from earlier in the pandemic, demand for tests, as well as Covid vaccines and treatments, has fallen.
The majority of Americans don’t seem to be concerned that Covid will interfere with their autumn and winter travel plans.
An American survey conducted on Friday by the health policy research group KFF found that about 30% of respondents were worried they would become very ill from COVID-19 or that they would infect others close to them.
According to the poll, less than half of respondents were worried about the possibility of another Covid surge during the winter, which has happened in previous pandemic years.
However, there are indications of a winter Covid pandemic.
As per the most recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 16,200 Americans were admitted to hospitals during the week that concluded on November 11. That represents an 8.6% rise over the prior week.
