The Biden administration says it is relaunching a website that allows people to order free COVID-19 tests and have them shipped to their homes.
Americans can order four tests from COVIDTest.gov, beginning on Monday.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it will invest $600 million in a dozen domestic manufacturers to spur production of tests, saying it will promote jobs at home and provide a tool to minimize virus transmission in the colder months.
“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,” Dawn O’Connell, the assistant HHS secretary for preparedness and response, said Wednesday.
HHS said the tests can detect circulating variants and can be used through the end of the year.
Testing for COVID-19 is not discussed as much as it was during the height of the pandemic, though it can be a way for people to check if they are positive and remove themselves from society to avoid transmitting the virus in social gatherings.
The administration is relaunching the testing program alongside its promotion of updated COVID-19 shots that target circulating variants.
President Biden debuted the test-shipping website at the start of 2022 after complaints he was caught flat-footed by the omicron wave and that tests were hard to find over the preceding winter holidays.
The COVIDTest.gov program offered four prior rounds of ordering, resulting in 755 million tests being shipped to homes across America.
HHS said the millions for domestic manufacturing will go to five companies in California; two in New Jersey and one each in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington State.
“The Biden-Harris Administration, in partnership with domestic manufacturers, has made great strides in addressing vulnerabilities in the U.S. supply chain by reducing our reliance on overseas manufacturing,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.