The Biden administration on Monday said it is offering another round of free at-home Covid tests to U.S. households ahead of the holiday season, when more people gather indoors and the virus typically spreads at higher levels.
Starting Monday, Americans can use COVIDtests.gov to request four free tests per household. Those who have not ordered any tests this fall can now place two orders for a total of eight tests, according to the website.
The administration in September allowed people to request an initial round of four free tests through the site, resuming a federal program that temporarily shut down during a political fight over Covid funding.
Thank you! Placed my order and it was surprisingly really simple. I like to keep tests around and they can be expensive, so this was awesome! Much appreciated for the info
Yea it took me all of 1 minute to get them ordered, really simple and quick.
I just wish the rate of false negatives wasn’t so bad. I feel like false negatives have gotten worse too. I’ve had textbook modern covid for two weeks, and now I’m better, but the cough wo,t go away. Never tested positive, but alternative diagnosis seems unlikely.
Did you get tested for influenza? My ex wife got nasty sick with the same symptoms as covid but it turned out to be influenza A. If you tested more than once and all were negative it’s likely you never had covid.
I tested twice and both negative and then went to the doctor and tested positive. The home tests are just unreliable sometimes.
I keep forgetting Covid is still a issue in some places, especially red states.
I looked it up and in the United States there were about 16,000 hospitalizations from Covid-19 in November 2023, 90% of which were elderly. I guess this virus is pretty much gone. West Virginia and Hawaii are the only trouble spots for covid this month.
Sewage studies show COVID is still an issue pretty much everywhere. People just don’t really care at this point. Hospitals aren’t full anymore because the most vulnerable have already died, been vaccinated, or now just avoid public places. So now we just get to roll the dice on long COVID and deal with lasting side effects every year or so.
(Recently got COVID here. I sing in multiple choirs, and COVID fucks up my singing voice for a while even after I recover. It’s such a pain in the ass.)
In Colorado I haven’t heard of anyone getting Covid in over a year. Now I know my group of friends and co-workers are all vaccinated so experience may vary, but it’s just not a thing in the Front Range. In the Ski Towns, that’s another story.
People are likely still getting Covid, but they are not testing, so it’s not confirmed. The strains around now are not severe for most people, varying from a sniffle to a flu. For some it’s severe, but with a combination of vaccinations, previous infections and the death of the most vulnerable already, it’s less of a public health problem.
Yeah, obviously it’s a bigger issue in places with more population churn. Larger cities, big events, travel hubs, tourist destinations, etc.
It’s also not very potent for many people at this point. People probably just assume they have a cold (which is kind of to be expected as variants become less severe and more transmissible) and wouldn’t know it’s COVID without a test. After all, the nebulous category “common cold” already contains other coronaviruses IIRC (though I think the bulk are rhinoviruses).
What is crazy is that if your exposed to the measles and vaccinated you might get nothing or it is just a cold. No actual measles symptoms.
My husband and I both got it last month in a purple state. Not a single person we had contact with “had” COVID, but several people were sick the week before but just didn’t test for COVID. It can mirror cold or flu symptoms. People just don’t realize they have it.
western Washington State checking in (so blue we’re edging towards ultramarine) - covid is making its rounds again now - my sister had it, my mother got it, and several colleagues at work are quarantining due to it. dunno about my colleagues but basically everyone I know is up to date on vaccines… for all the good it does…
tl;dr - you’re borderline imbecilic
