U.S. households can now order “eight additional free at-home tests from COVIDTests.gov, bringing the total number of free tests available to each household since the program began to 16,” the White House said in a fact sheet. information. tuesday. The tests were first made available on Monday.
The government first launched the website to allow free tests to be ordered in January, and Americans were able to order their second round of tests in March. Over the two rounds, people could order a maximum of four tests per household. This third round doubles that.
“Due to the inability of Congress to provide additional funding for the national Covid-19 response, the administration cannot continue to make the types of federal investments necessary to maintain national test manufacturing capacity, and this may compromise the ability of the federal government to provide free testing in the future,” the fact sheet says.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines to approve Covid-19 testing for all domestic travelers. Previously, the recommendation to test before domestic travel applied to those who were not up to date with their Covid-19 vaccines.