FREE COVID-19 TESTS FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: WHEN AND HOW YOU CAN ORDER THEM
At the end of September, American households will be able to order free COVID-19 tests that will detect current variants and be usable until the end of the year, according to officials.
In August, public health officials announced that the COVIDtest.gov program will once again be made available ahead of the COVID-19 surge that happens during winter. The respiratory virus peaks twice a year, once in summer and once in winter, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Since the pandemic, COVID-19 joined the flu and RSV and became a common respiratory virus that peaks in the colder months of the year.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
New COVID variant: COVID variant XEC sees rapid global growth: What to know about the new strain
How to order the COVID-19 tests
To order the tests, visit COVIDtest.gov. Once ordered, the at-home tests will be shipped to homes for free.
Each household can receive up to four free tests.
The tests will be able to detect the dominant variants that are circulating, including the following subvariants, according to the CDC.:
- KP.3.1.1- 37% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
- KP.3- Made up over 16% of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
The date when people can start ordering the tests has not been announced, however they will be available to order at the end of the month.
Latest data on COVID-19 variants
According to the CDC's latest Nowcast data reflecting the two-week period starting on Sept. 1 and ending on Sept. 14., these are the most common COVID variants:
Can't see the table? Click here to view it.
COVID-19 variant KP.3.1.1 accounts for more than half of positive infections in the United States, the latest projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.
The agency's Nowcast data tracker, which displays COVID-19 estimates and projections for two-week periods, reflected that the KP.3.1.1 variant accounted for 52.7% of positive infections, followed by KP.2.3 at 12.2% in the two-week stretch starting on Sept. 1 and ending on Sept. 14.
KP.3.1.1 first became the leading variant in the two-week period, starting on July 21st and ending on August 3rd.
"The KP.3.1.1 variant is very similar to other circulating variants in the United States. All current lineages are descendants of JN.1, which emerged in late 2023," Rosa Norman, a spokesperson at the CDC, previously told USA TODAY.
Previously, the KP.3.1.1 variant made up 40.0% of cases for the two-week period that started on Aug. 18 and ended on Aug. 31, and KP.2.3 accounted for 14.5%. According to the data, KP.3.1.1 rose 12.7%, and KP.2.3 decreased 2.3% from Aug. 31 in projected positive infections.
Although not reflected on the CDC's Nowcast data tracker, a newly discovered COVID strain known as XEC continues to spread rapidly across multiple countries, including the U.S.
Scripps Research’s Outbreak.info page, last updated on Sept. 5, reported 95 XEC cases across 12 U.S. states and 15 different countries.
Contributing: Sabine Martin, Shelby Slade; Arizona Republic; Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY
Julia Gomez is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at [email protected].
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Free COVID-19 tests from federal government: When and how you can order them
2024-09-19T13:16:44Z dg43tfdfdgfd