The federal government will mail American households up to four free COVID-19 tests beginning at the end of September, which is just before the start of this year’s fall and winter respiratory virus season.
Free COVID-19 tests. Americans will be able to request the tests online at www.COVIDTests.gov over the next few days, although federal officials haven’t released the exact date the program will open yet.
The free tests will be able to detect the current variants of COVID-19, according to the program website, and are valid for use until the end of the year.
A vaccination campaign. The free COVID-19 tests are part of a campaign by the government to encourage Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the flu, and RSV.
The government timed to the campaign to coincide with the fall and winter season, officials told Reuters, which is when Americans stay indoors more and also get together with friends and family.
Although COVID-19 is now endemic, meaning it is consistently present in the population, it’s still a threat, and one that’s constantly changing.
“The virus continues to change faster than the flu virus," Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control, said, according to Reuters. "The severity of COVID looks more similar to flu, but if you still put head-to-head... in terms of what is hospitalizing more folks and what is killing more folks, COVID is being [a] more dangerous virus than flu.”
New COVID-19 vaccine. U.S. regulators approved a new COVID-19 vaccine designed to target the recent variants in late August. The CDC currently recommends that everyone aged six months and older get the new vaccines.
“Vaccination is especially important for people at highest risk of severe COVID-19, including people ages 65 years and older; people with underlying medical conditions, including immune compromise; people living in long-term care facilities; and pregnant people to protect themselves and their infants,” the agency states on its website.
COVID-19 isn’t gone. The U.S. saw a surge of COVID-19 cases this summer tied to the new variants of the virus. While the new variants aren’t more deadly, experts said they are more contagious.
Although many Americans have some protection from the virus, whether from previous vaccinations or previous infections, that protection doesn’t last forever. In addition, experts point out that last year’s vaccine protects against variants that are no longer in circulation.
There are clear reasons to get the new vaccine, Dr. Otto Yang, the associate chief of infectious diseases at UCLA Health, told NPR.
“They’re better matched to their variants. The antibodies should work better. And so they would hopefully reduce the number of people that are getting symptomatic COVID and hopefully with that reduce the circulation,” Yang said.
Image | Mika Baumeister | CDC
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