WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to health officials, testing is an important tool to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public health experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are recommending Americans use at-home tests if they begin to have symptoms, at least five days after coming in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, or are gathering indoors with a group of people who are at risk of severe disease or unvaccinated.
To help ensure Americans have tests on hand if a need arises, the Biden Administration announced earlier this month it is purchasing one billion at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests to give to Americans for free. A half-billion tests were to be available for ordering on Jan. 19, and will be mailed directly to American households. There will be free tests available for every household, and to promote broad access, the initial program will allow four free tests to be requested per residential address.
Starting Tuesday, Jan. 18, residents were able to order their tests online at COVIDTests.gov. Officials said tests will typically ship within 7-12 days of ordering. The program is a partnership with the United States Postal Service to package and deliver tests to Americans that want them. All orders in the continental United States will be sent through First Class Package Service, with shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. Territories and APO/FPO/DPO addresses sent through Priority Mail.
It was also announced last week, private health insurance companies will be required to cover at-home COVID-19 tests for free—and an additional 10 million COVID-19 tests were to be made available to schools nationwide, each month.
N95 masks also to be available
The Biden administration announced on Wednesday, Jan. 19, it was making 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks available, free of charge, at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the U.S.
The move comes just days after the C.D.C. updated its mask guidance to acknowledge that cloth masks do not offer as much protection against the virus as surgical masks or respirators. N95 respirators, so named because they can filter out 95 percent of all airborne particles when used correctly, offer the highest level of protection, according to the C.D.C.
The White House said the government would begin shipping N95 masks to pharmacies and health centers at the end of the week, and that the masks were expected to be available to the public at the end of next week. The program should be fully up and running by early February, according to officials.
The masks will come from the Strategic National Stockpile, the nation’s emergency reserve.
