Biden Administration Restarts Distribution of Free COVID-19 Virus At-Home Test Kits

As part of its “Winter Preparedness Plan” announced on Dec. 15, the Biden administration will continue its free COVID virus at-home test program to address a potential surge in the winter months.

U.S. households can order four free at-home tests from CovidTests.gov. The Biden administration plans to start shipping orders during the week of Dec. 19.

Complimentary tests will also be available at major food banks, according to a White House statement.

The program was suspended on Sept. 2 “because Congress hasn’t provided additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests,” the CovidTest website reported at the time.

This week, the Biden administration said that it has reallocated American Rescue Plan funds to purchase additional at-home tests.

President Joe Biden gives remarks on the status of COVID-19 in the United States from the South Court Auditorium at the White House campus in Washington on Oct. 25, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“There remains an urgent need for additional COVID funding to help us stay prepared in the face of an unpredictable virus,” a Biden administration senior official told reporters.

“At the end of the day, we had to repurpose some of our existing money to focus on this important initiative as we are seeing cases go up. These are always hard choices, and we have to make trade-offs.”

In a statement detailing the winter preparedness plan, the White House said, “While COVID-19 is not the disruptive force it once was, the virus continues to evolve, and cases are on the rise again as families are spending more time indoors and gathering for the holidays.

“Throughout the COVID-19 response, this administration has been prepared for whatever the virus throws our way—and this moment is no different.”

Making free at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests available through COVIDTests.gov and food banks; and distributing more free tests at “trusted locations” like schools, community health centers, rural health clinics, long-term care facilities, and more than 6,500 Department of Housing and Urban Development-assisted rental housing properties serving seniors; are part of the Winter Preparedness Plan.

The Biden administration also announced on Dec. 15 that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is sending a letter to all governors “outlining key actions that he would like state leaders to take as they prepare for increased cases and hospitalizations this winter and reminding them of federal supports that are available for their COVID-19 responses.”

Setting up additional mobile and pop-up vaccination sites, and surge testing sites, are among the services available, according to the Biden administration.

Test to Treat sites, where people can get free virus tests and “get prescribed and dispensed safe, effective COVID-19 treatments right on site if they test positive and treatment is appropriate for them,” are also offered.

As part of the plan, the Biden administration will collaborate with communities to “open pop-up and/or mobile vaccination sites.”

Opening up to 800 pop-up clinics per week in Los Angeles County; expanding at-home administration of vaccines and free home delivery of treatments in New York; and increasing Chicago’s at-home vaccine administration program are among the elements of the collaboration, according to the Biden administration.

Guidance for nursing home and long-term care facility administrators regarding actions to reduce COVID-19 infections, hospitalization, and deaths will be offered.

“As expected, we’re seeing COVID cases rising in parts of the country following Thanksgiving. And while COVID isn’t the disruptive force it once was, we know that the virus will circulate more quickly and easily as folks gather indoors for the winter holiday season,” the senior administration official said.

There is little mention of masks in the plan, aside from promoting the previous initiatives of making millions of facial coverings available at pharmacies and grocery stores among other locations.

“We view masks to be just one important tool in an arsenal of tools that is part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat COVID,” the Biden administration senior official said.

As part of the year-end funding bill, the White House has requested more than $9 billion in Covid funding as part of the year-end funding bill. That attempt has been met with strong Republican resistance.

On Oct. 15, GOP leadership announced that, when the party takes control of the chamber in January, House Republicans will seek testimony from dozens of Biden administration officials and experts about the origins of the CCP virus in China and U.S. funding for virus research in Wuhan.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) released a list of 40 individuals Biden administration officials and health experts whom they will demand testimony from in 2023.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks in Washington on Nov. 22, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

The list includes Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“Discovering the origin of COVID-19 is vital to providing accountability and protecting Americans in the future,” Comer said in a statement.

“Mounting evidence points to the virus originating from a leak at the Wuhan lab. EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. National Institutes of Health grantee, passed taxpayer funds to the Wuhan lab to conduct gain of function research on bat coronaviruses—research that may have started the pandemic.”

Jordan said that Americans “deserve the facts and the truth” about the origins of the virus.

“COVID-19 disrupted our lives and livelihoods for over two years: kids couldn’t go to school, small businesses and churches were closed, our economy tanked, and our freedoms were restricted,” Jordan said.

“If we had known the truth about the virus’s origins, we could have combated the virus in a more meaningful way at the outset of the pandemic.”