COVID Tests Again Available For Free Due To Rise In Infections

Just when many Americans thought that the COVID-19 Pandemic was largely over and behind us, the nature of this disease seems to have had something else in mind.

Positive COVID-19 infection rates have been increasing all over the nation, especially in the Empire State. Things are getting so bad that the Federal Government has decided to restart the Strategic Preparedness and Response program and begin offering free COVID-19 tests to residents.

$600 million in federal funds are being allocated to assist 12 manufacturing companies in producing more than 200 million COVID-19 tests for Americans to receive and use free of charge.

Free COVID-19 Tests Are Now Available To Americans

Manufacturing COVID-19 tests in the United States strengthens our preparedness for the upcoming fall and winter seasons, reduces our reliance on other countries, and provides good jobs to hardworking Americans... ASPR’s investments in these domestic manufacturers will increase availability of tests in the future.
-Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response

The federal government has restarted its COVID test at-home program, which had previously ended this past May. Tests are now available to all Americans via the United States Postal Service, thanks to the government's COVID.gov website.

Americans can request four free COVID-19 tests for home right here on that COVID.gov page.

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Once you submit your request, the tests will be delivered to your home via the USPS. Since the original program's start, more than 755 million free tests have been delivered directly to more than 310 million households in the country.

What To Do With Your Expired COVID-19 Tests?

If you have older COVID-19 tests that have expired, government officials advise not just to throw them away.

The Federal Drug Administration has a matrix that shows which tests are still good, even after their expiration date.

You can check your tests here to see if they're still good.

Answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

Keep reading to discover answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions.