CNN
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Folks in the US can now order extra free Covid-19 checks from the federal authorities because the nation heads into respiratory virus season with excessive ranges of the coronavirus already circulating.
Every family is eligible to obtain 4 at-home check kits, which could be requested from COVIDTests.gov beginning immediately. They’ll be shipped totally free beginning subsequent week by means of the US Postal Service.
That is this system’s seventh spherical of distribution, which has delivered greater than 900 million free checks on to US residents because it began within the winter of 2021, in line with the US Division of Well being and Human Companies.
The fast antigen checks take about half-hour to provide outcomes. This subsequent set of checks will be capable of detect at the moment circulating variants and can be utilized for testing in individuals who have Covid-19 signs and those that don’t, in addition to in those that are up-to-date on their Covid-19 vaccination and those that aren’t.
“Reopening this fashionable program is the most recent step by the Biden-Harris Administration to make sure that over-the-counter COVID-19 checks can be found to all who need them this fall and winter,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Daybreak O’Connell stated in a press release. “Earlier than you go to with your loved ones and buddies this vacation season, take a fast check and assist preserve them protected from COVID-19.”
The accessible checks additionally embrace an possibility with options that make it extra accessible for folks with disabilities affecting dexterity or imaginative and prescient to make use of. Extra details about ordering these checks is offered at ACL.gov/AccessibleTests.
“COVID-19 testing can assist you recognize you probably have COVID-19 so you’ll be able to determine what to do subsequent, like getting remedy to scale back your threat of extreme sickness and taking steps to decrease your possibilities of spreading the virus to others,” in line with the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
To scale back the unfold of Covid-19, the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommends that individuals who check constructive keep house and away from others till they’re fever-free for a minimum of 24 hours.
The US Meals and Drug Administration recommends that individuals take a number of fast checks to make sure they don’t have Covid-19: two destructive checks for these with signs and three for these with out signs, carried out 48 hours aside.
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The CDC additionally recommends that everybody age 6 months or older obtain an up to date Covid-19 vaccine this season to remain updated.
This yr, there are a number of choices accessible; mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer had been up to date to focus on KP.2, one of many so-called FLiRT variants which were dominant within the US since Might. These vaccines are for folks 6 months and older. A extra conventional protein vaccine from Novavax can also be accessible, however it targets JN.1, a variant that’s nonetheless circulating however much less prominently than a number of months in the past. The Novavax vaccine is permitted just for these ages 12 and up.
The up to date Covid-19 vaccines can be found now at pharmacies throughout the US and could be acquired similtaneously the annual flu vaccine.
“The perfect plan going into this winter is for everybody to stay vigilant, to make use of the instruments we have now: vaccines, testing, remedy towards the sicknesses accountable for almost all of fall and winter deaths and hospitalizations,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen stated final week.
CNN’s Brenda Goodman contributed to this report.