The federal government launched its website to order up to four free COVID-19 test kits are directly delivered to households.
According to White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, the website is up and running as a part of a “beta phase” before the website officially launches on Wednesday morning. People may order up to four COVID-19 test kits at covidtests.gov.
The tests will ship within 7 -12 days of ordering through the U.S. Postal service. All households are limited to only four tests regardless of their size. The federal government additionally plans to establish a hotline, though it is unclear when it will launch.
"We didn't start from scratch. The Postal Service is an important partner here. They already have a website that does sell goods to the public and has for quite some time," an administration official told reporters at a White House briefing last week.
In addition to this new program, there are many other options for people to get tested. According to the federal government, there are now over 20,000 free testing sites across the nation. This includes four times as many pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy free testing program as there were in January 2021, as well as federal surge free testing sites, with more free testing sites opening each week.
President Joe Biden announced a plan to make testing available in late December when Omicron surged through the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Omicron has surpassed Delta as the dominant strain nationwide, accounting for 99.5 percent of new COVID-19 cases last week.
The county of San Diego reported an increase in COVID-19 patients on Tuesday by four people, bringing the total to 1,260. Records show four more people in intensive care, bringing the total to 193 patents.
There were five additional deaths on Friday and 9,878 new COVID-19 infections.
The most recent figures released by the county's Health and Human Services Agency increased the cumulative totals to 568,212 cases and 4,545 deaths since the pandemic began.
There were 40,017 new tests reported Friday, and the seven-day average positivity rate was 28.9 percent, up from 28.8 percent on Thursday.
