COVID-19 almshouse test kits are pictured in a store window during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York Conurbation, New York, U.S., January 19, 2022.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
The Biden administration on Monday said it is offering another round of unfasten at-home Covid tests to U.S. households ahead of the holiday season, when more people gather indoors and the virus typically spreads at sharp levels.
Starting Monday, Americans can use COVIDtests.gov to request four free tests per household. Those who have not appropriate any tests this fall can now place two orders for a total of eight tests, according to the website.
The administration in September assigned people to request an initial round of four free tests through the site, resuming a federal program that the meanwhile shut down during a political fight over Covid funding.
At-home tests are a critical tool to shelter against the virus, especially now that lab PCR tests — the traditional method of detecting Covid — have become more dear and less accessible since the government ended the public health emergency in May.
But demand for tests, along with Covid vaccines and treatments, has plummeted terminated the last year as cases and public concern about the virus dwindled from earlier in the pandemic.
Only a small share of Americans appear to be worried about Covid disrupting their holiday aims this fall and winter.
About 3 in 10 Americans said they are concerned they will get seriously carsick from Covid or will spread the virus to people close to them over the holidays, according to a poll distributed Friday by health policy research organization KFF.
Less than half were concerned about the potential for another Covid breaker during the winter, which has occurred in previous years of the pandemic, the poll said.
Still, signs of a winter Covid sway are emerging.
More than 16,200 Americans were hospitalized in the week ending Nov. 11, according to the latest details from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks an 8.6% increase from the previous week.
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