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How to order free rapid covid tests from the US government — again

2024-09-30T08:29:49-04:00

Autumn is here, and once again, warnings are going up about the spread of the covid-19 virus - along with the flu and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus. To try to minimize the upsurge, the US government is once again offering free home rapid antigen tests to each US household. According to the government website, orders will start shipping this week.

As before, it's extremely simple to put in your order. You will not need to submit a credit card or any other financial information.

Go to covidtests.gov.
Tap on the button reading Order Free At-home Tests.
If you don't see the button for any reason, you can go directly to the USPS site (which …

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A pandemic-era internet subsidy is officially ending

2024-05-31T14:21:23-04:00

May 31st marks the official last day of a covid-19 pandemic-era internet subsidy, the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The up to $30 monthly broadband discount (up to $75 for those on Tribal lands) helped 23 million low-income households in every county in the US access high-speed internet during a period when that connection became more vital than ever as businesses and schools shut their doors. The Federal Communications Commission and industry players have warned for months that the program would soon run out of money unless Congress found a way to fund it, but the money never materialized.

"Without Congressional action to extend fundin …

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The US is going to restart its free at-home covid test kit program

2023-09-20T17:48:26-04:00

The US government will again offer free at-home covid tests starting September 25th, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Wednesday. The kits are intended for use through the end of 2023; as with previous versions of the free test program, the kits will include four tests along with instructions for verifying extended expiration dates.

The government ended its most recent free test kit program on May 31st as cases and hospitalizations dwindled, but hospitalizations have been steadily rising since July, according to The New York Times' covid tracker.

According to the HHS release, the White House has invested $60 …

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WHO declares an end to covid global health emergency

2023-05-05T12:04:04-04:00

Three years after the emergence of a novel coronavirus brought the world to a standstill, the World Health Organization announced that covid-19 no longer represents a global health emergency.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said in a tweet that the organization's covid emergency committee recommended "an end to the public health emergency of international concern" and that he accepted.

"With great hope I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," Ghebreyesus added.

The virus, which emerged from China and quickly spread to practically every country in the world, was first declared a public health emergency by …

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Elon Musk’s ‘lab leak’ tweets could be an issue for Tesla’s plans in China

2023-02-28T18:23:29-05:00

CNBC reports The Global Times, a state-run paper in China, has warned Elon Musk about pushing the covid "lab leak" theory. Reporter Eunice Yoon said the social media post asked if Musk is "breaking the pot of China," with a meaning similar to asking if he was biting the hand that feeds him.

Ever since Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter, it's seemed certain that at some point, the service's content would put him at odds with the Chinese Communist Party, as Nilay Patel wrote after the deal closed:

Are you excited for the Chinese government to find ways to threaten Tesla's huge business in that country over content that appears on Tw …

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Apple may shift some iPad production away from China to India

2022-12-05T18:02:34-05:00

After shifting iPhone production away from China, it now looks as if Apple's got its eye on iPad production. According to CNBC, Apple is discussing producing some of its iPads in India to help diversify its supply chain.

The news comes almost two years after reports emerged that Apple is considering manufacturing iPads in Vietnam, too. Apple is doing this as the company looks to move up to 30 percent of its manufacturing outside of China.

Apple's been trying to diversify its manufacturing for years amid trade wars between China and the US and rising labor costs in China. More recently, strict covid restrictions sparked countrywide protests …

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COVID-19 tests will no longer get emergency treatment at the FDA

2022-09-28T13:27:54-04:00

Since the start of the pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration has signed off on 430 COVID-19 tests through its emergency use authorization powers - rules that let the agency push tests and drugs out the door more quickly during an emergency. Now, over two years later, the agency is backing off that system and will treat most COVID-19 tests just like other medical tests. In a statement Tuesday, the FDA said that most new COVID-19 tests will have to go through the normal, non-emergency test review process.

"For most new tests, shifting to traditional premarket review would best meet the public health needs at the current stage of the COVI …

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Omicron-specific vaccine boosters get FDA sign-off

2022-08-31T09:54:08-04:00

COVID-19 vaccines designed to target the omicron variant have just been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Both Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna got the FDA's sign-off for their booster doses of the reformulated shot. This is the first update to COVID-19 vaccines to be authorized in the United States.

The Pfizer / BioNTech booster is available to people 12 and older, and the Moderna shot will be available to people 18 and older. They'll only be boosters - they can't be used by people who haven't already had their first doses.

The new booster shots target both the original strain of the coronavirus and the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages o …

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How to order free rapid COVID tests from the US government [Update: as of this Friday, you can’t]

2022-08-31T09:24:43-04:00

[NOTE: As of Friday, September 2nd, 2022, the program offering free home COVID-19 rapid antigen tests has been suspended due, according to the website, to a lack of funding from Congress. In other words, we're on our own.]

Original story below

With the rise of the Omicron variant, we've been urged to use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to make sure that we don't spread the virus to friends and family. However, it's been very difficult to follow that suggestion, what with long lines at COVID testing stations and high prices for home kits - when you can find them.

To try to alleviate this situation, the US federal government has created a websit …

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This is the last week to get free rapid COVID-19 tests from the US government

2022-08-30T14:05:06-04:00

This is the last week to order free COVID-19 rapid tests from the United States government. The program will be suspended on Friday, September 2nd, "because Congress hasn't provided additional funding to replenish the nation's stockpile of tests," the program's website reads.

The White House launched COVIDTests.gov in January of this year, soon after the omicron variant first started burning through the US. Every US household is eligible for three sets of tests from the website, so if you still haven't gotten all of your tests, now's the time to place the order. Here's our how-to guide.

An unnamed White House official told CNN that the Bid …

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