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Home-based COVID-19 antigen tests that come back positive are photographed in New York City on April 5. Biden’s leadership announced today that it will provide $600 million in investments to produce new COVID-19 tests at home and is restarting one that allows Americans to reorder up to four free tests per household.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced today that it is allocating a $600 million investment to produce new COVID-19 tests at home and restart an online page that allows Americans to reorder up to four loose tests per family, in an effort to avoid a potential shortage and surge in coronavirus cases that typically occurs in the colder months.
The Department of Health and Human Services says orders can be placed in COVIDTests. gov Sept. 25 and loose tests will be delivered free of charge through the U. S. Postal Service. U. S.
Twelve brands employing many other people in seven states have secured investments and will produce two hundred million over-the-counter tests to fill federal inventories for government use, in addition to generating enough tests to meet the demand for tests ordered online, the branch said. Said. . . Federal officials said this would help guard against chain-of-origin issues that have led to some shortage of at-home COVID testing conducted overseas, in addition to rising coronavirus cases.
Dawn O’Connell, HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said the online page will continue to operate to obtain holiday orders and “we reserve the right to keep it open even more if we start to see an increase in cases. “”»
“If those tests are requested, we need to make sure they’re made to be given to other Americans in this way,” O’Connell said. “But, at this point, our purpose is to get over the holidays and make sure other people can get tested if they’re going to see grandma on Thanksgiving. “
The tests are designed to detect COVID variants that are circulating lately and are expected to be in use through the end of the year, but will come with commands on how to check for expired expiration dates, the branch said.
The initiative follows four previous cycles in which federal officials and the U. S. Postal Service have not been allowed to do so. The U. S. government sent more than 755 million tests to homes across the country.
It also aims to complement ongoing federal efforts to supply COVID-free to long-term care facilities, schools, low-income senior housing, the uninsured, and underserved communities, which are already distributing four million per week and have distributed 500 million tests. to date. said the ministry.
O’Connell said brands could distribute the two hundred million tests they produce for federal use over 18 months. This means that as requests for at-home testing through the online page or in U. S. stores increase. As COVID cases rise in the country, brands can focus on fulfilling those orders, but then they will have an additional outlet for the tests they produce at a time when demand is declining.
“We’ve noticed that both in one and in the winter, as other people move indoors from heated spaces, away from the outside, in seasons where COVID has been a concern, we’ve noticed cases pass,” O’Connell said. .
He added that “there is an opportunity or possibility that some other variant will appear,” but “we don’t anticipate it. “
“That’s why we’re doing this,” O’Connell said. We are doing it for the next fall and winter season and for the possibility of cases increasing. “
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said that “the Biden-Harris administration, in partnership with domestic manufacturers, has made wonderful progress in addressing vulnerabilities in the American chain by reducing our dependence on foreign manufacturing. “
“These critical investments will increase production levels of immediate COVID-19 home tests in our country and mitigate the spread of the virus,” Becerra said in a statement.
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