Starting in late September, the federal government will relaunch its at-home COVID-19 test program that makes every U.S. household eligible for four free COVID-19 tests to be sent directly to their home.
The test, which can be ordered from COVIDTests.gov at the end of September, will detect the current variants and can be used through the end of the year, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services news release.
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“COVID-19 testing can help you know if you have COVID-19 so you can decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps to lower your chances of spreading the virus to others,” according to the release.
Since the pandemic began, HHS says the program has distributed more than 900 million COVID-19 tests directly to American’s homes.
The news comes at nearly the same time as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for the fall season. An updated Novavax vaccine is expected to get approval sometime this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the updated vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and older.
(Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.)
Melissa Patrick is a reporter for Kentucky Health News, an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. She has received several competitive fellowships, including the 2016-17 Nursing and Health Care Workforce Media Fellow of the Center for Health, Media & Policy, which allowed her to focus on and write about nursing workforce issues in Kentucky; and the year-long Association of Health Care Journalists 2017-18 Regional Health Journalism Program fellowship. She is a former registered nurse and holds degrees in journalism and community leadership and development from UK.
