More Free COVID-19 Tests as Infections Increase

On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said U.S. households at the end of September will be eligible to order four free COVID-19 tests at COVIDTests.gov. The COVID-19 tests will detect current COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year.

Government-purchased supplies of the antiviral drug Paxlovid also will be available at no charge to people who are uninsured or who are on Medicare or Medicaid, CNN reported. The CDC is giving state and local health departments additional funding to provide free Covid vaccines for uninsured and underinsured adults as well, and free vaccines will continue to be available to children from low-income families through the government’s Vaccines for Children program.

The CDC said the highest numbers of emergency department visits for COVID-19 over the summer were among children under the age of 5.

Updated COVID-19 vaccines that defend against the newest circulating variants were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, amidst a summer peak of infections.

As CMM previously reported, last year’s new vaccine rollout was in mid-September, but the U.S. is fighting a summer wave of infections. The CDC reported that the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 keeps rising since mid-May and that emergency room visits and hospitalizations are too. As of Aug. 17, test positivity was up 18%, emergency department visits up 2.5%, and deaths up 1.8% from the previous week. Nationally, as of Aug. 17, the wastewater viral activity level for COVID-19 is rated very high, with the highest rates reported  on the West Coast.