2y ago

Biden announces $600m for more free Covid-19 tests in anticipation of surge

www.theguardian.com

The funding will produce new at-home tests and restart a website to allow Americans to order four free tests per household

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600m in funding to produce new, at-home Covid-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household – aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says orders can be placed at covidtests.gov starting 25 September, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states from California to Maryland have been awarded funding and will produce 200m over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the department said.

28 comments

Good. I've come down with something that mirrors what COVID felt like and have exhausted my supply of tests. They were pretty expensive to purchase.
- I think you might have what I have, do you also feel an utter lack of hope for humanity?
- Just curious...how expensive?
  
  Last time I got it priced at an urgentcare they wanted 40 dollars. I told them it's free or I walk. Ended up walking.
  
  It was about fifty dollars for three tests at CVS
  
  I work for a hospital, with my discount I can't get one for 9 bucks and change.
  
  $15-30? Something like that. All I know is the one I bought tested negative, but I tested positive at the doctor's office.
Cool. Now do the rest of the healthcare system.
- Sorry, but your healthcare is in another castle.
- Automatically sending them to homes would be extremely wasteful in a country where some half of the populace would never bother using them. Half would go straight in the trash.
- 4 was plenty for my family to find out we were COVID positive. We ended up buying replacement tests because they weren't free anymore, but the free ones worked as intended.
- 4 tests per household isnt close to enough
  What’s your definition of “enough”? Of course it’s not enough to allow everyone to be 100% confident they don’t have covid if they come down with the sniffles. But if you have known COVID exposure, it allows you to test at the recommended 5-day mark to see if you have it yourself. That probably would cover around 80% of needs.
Anticipation of surge? We're already on the downslope of a recent tiny surge up here in the Boston area:
https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm
- There's always a larger surge after Thanksgiving and Christmas, when people are traveling and going to gatherings.
  
  Followed by the same in mid to late April, after spring break and Mardi Gras.
  
  Oof, yeah. It'll be time to break out my N95s again
- I don't know about statistics on actual cases. Our company manufactures masks and sells them direct on Amazon. I do know we've had to ramp production back up for this month.
- My kid got it after 2 weeks in school and gave it to me. I've had multiple coworkers get it in the last few weeks too.

28 comments