{"id":1664,"date":"2024-03-06T15:34:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T15:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/06\/free-home-covid-19-test-program-to-be-suspended-this-week\/"},"modified":"2024-03-06T15:34:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T15:34:37","slug":"free-home-covid-19-test-program-to-be-suspended-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/06\/free-home-covid-19-test-program-to-be-suspended-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Free home Covid-19 test program to be suspended this week"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/clteiy7pm001k29pb4u55ei6r@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The US government\u2019s free at-home Covid-19 test program will be suspended Friday, according to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/clten7jye00003b6hh48yehpl@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Since November, residential households in the US have been able to submit an order through Covidtests.gov for four individual rapid antigen tests. All orders placed on or before Friday will be fulfilled, according to ASPR, an operating division of the US Department of Health and Human Services.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltelbgbx000r356hsgtdg0l4@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cASPR has delivered over 1.8 billion free COVID-19 tests to the American people through\u00a0COVIDTests.gov and direct distribution pathways and will continue distributing millions of tests per week to long-term care facilities, food banks, health centers, and schools,\u201d an ASPR spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltelojhb000t356hgx0jdi54@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The decision to suspend the program\u2019s sixth run comes amid falling Covid-19 cases as the nation\u2019s respiratory virus season winds down, according to the agency.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltelw6xa000z356hzqhngb9n@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the worst of the season may be over but warned that Covid-19 levels remain elevated across the country.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltelzkc00011356hltvbdxli@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cWhile the respiratory virus season is likely past its peak, it is definitely not over,\u201d the agency said. \u201cThere is still a lot of respiratory virus activity, so it\u2019s not time to let our guard down.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltem0fb00013356hmwvktch5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Rates of Covid-19-related hospitalizations remain elevated but are decreasing in some parts of the country, CDC data shows. Still, thousands of people are being hospitalized with Covid-19 each week: more than 17,000 during the week ending February 24, according to the CDC.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltelswnw000v356homyg01if@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            An ASPR spokesperson says the agency reserves the right to reopen the testing program if needed.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltek8rlx0007356hof9mji3a@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The government previously suspended the rapid test distribution program in May after the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency. It was reopened September 25.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltek8rlx0008356humtu82is@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Residents who haven\u2019t placed an order since then can now place two, which will provide eight tests in total, according to the US Postal Service. Each order includes\u00a0four rapid antigen Covid-19 tests.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/factbox\/instances\/cltemht150019356hu2gf1ydv@published\" class=\"factbox_inline-small         factbox_inline-small__standard  \" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<ul class=\"factbox_inline-small__items factbox_inline-small__items--ul\">  <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltek8rlx0009356hxmm3004g@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            These tests can be taken at home and can be used regardless of whether someone has symptoms. The tests should work through the end of the year; some of the dates on the labels may show that they\u2019re expired, but the US Food and Drug Administration has\u00a0extended those dates.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltek8rlx000a356haonqw27y@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The CDC\u00a0recommends that people test\u00a0if they have any Covid-19-like symptoms including a sore throat, a runny nose, loss of smell or taste or a fever.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/clteka4qw000f356hs0n8leib@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            People may also want to test before they\u2019re going to be a part of a large event, like a concert or a conference, particularly if they aren\u2019t up-to-date on their vaccines. Antiviral medications are available to treat both Covid-19 and flu, and testing can help determine which is needed.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cltek8rlx0006356hbr4i6jz1@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            More information on free testing resources is available on the Covidtests.gov site or at 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489).    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/clteru1m100003b6hgdc5b9dj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            <strong><em>Correction: <\/em><\/strong><em>A previous version of this story incorrectly described ASPR.<\/em>    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div>This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US government\u2019s free at-home Covid-19 test program will be suspended Friday, according to the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}