Following a summer season uptick of COVID-19 infections, Individuals will quickly be capable to order free COVID-19 assessments this fall.
The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies has not but supplied an official date that the nasal swab assessments will likely be obtainable, however says kits ought to be able to order by the top of September. The initiative is rolling out forward of the vacation season, when colds, flus and different sicknesses turn into extra frequent.
Households will be capable to get hold of 4 free antigen COVID-19 assessments by visiting COVIDtests.gov, a repeat of the 2023 program. And the division says that these assessments will be capable to “detect present COVID-19 variants and can be utilized via the top of the 12 months,” in line with its web site.
The most recent information from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention discovered that check 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 Could, positivity hovered round 3-4%.
On Monday, the web site to order the assessments seemed to be down because of “an excessive amount of visitors or a configuration error.”
In 2023, 900 million COVID-10 assessments went out to Individuals via this system, in line with U.S. Well being and Human Companies.
Final month, U.S. regulators authorised 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 will likely be eligible to obtain the shot.
“Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Heart for Biologics Analysis and Analysis stated 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 supply higher safety towards presently circulating variants.”
