Shipments of free coronavirus tests will take at least a week, U.S. officials say. [View all]
Last edited Fri Jan 14, 2022, 08:02 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: New York Times
Americans will be able to order free rapid coronavirus tests online at COVIDTests.gov beginning on Wednesday, but the tests will take time to arrive: they will typically ship within 7 to 12 days after being ordered, senior Biden administration officials said on Friday.
The announcement of the website fulfills a promise President Biden made before Christmas, when he said his administration would purchase 500 million rapid at-home coronavirus tests and distribute them to Americans free of charge. On Thursday, Mr. Biden announced his intent to purchase an additional 500 million tests, bringing the total to 1 billion. The administration has already contracted for 420 million tests.
But the lag in shipping means that Americans may not have access to the tests until the end of January at the earliest. In some parts of the country, that may be after the peak of the current surge of coronavirus cases, fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.The Postal Service will handle shipping and delivery through first class mail, the officials said.
The officials did not have a specific time when the website would go live; they simply said it would happen sometime next Wednesday. They said that each household would be limited to ordering four tests. Beginning on Saturday, however, people with private insurance are supposed to be able to seek reimbursement for tests they purchase themselves. Some insurers say it will probably take weeks to fully set up the system the White House envisions.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/14/world/omicron-covid-vaccine-tests/shipments-of-free-coronavirus-tests-will-take-at-least-a-week-us-officials-say
I HAVE to add this that I just found out in my local paper (Philly Inquirer) -
Postal workers at 43 facilities across the United States, including Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, will build and label millions of testing kits for mail delivery.
by Ellie Rushing
Updated 2 hours ago
The White House and U.S. Postal Service have finalized plans for a pilot program to deliver 500 million coronavirus testing kits to American households, according to an agreement between the USPS and American Postal Workers Union. Postal workers at 43 facilities across the United States, including Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, will build and label millions of testing kits for mail delivery, according to the agreement.
President Joe Biden’s administration has built a website, covidtests.org, where, beginning Jan. 19, each American household can request up to four testing kits to be delivered. The site, which launched Friday, says “the tests will be completely free — there are no shipping costs and you don’t need to enter a credit card number.”
Andy Kubat, president of the Lehigh Valley area APWU, who was on a union teleconference call Thursday when plans for the program were presented, said it’s anticipated the USPS could deliver upward of 2 million kits per day. “I heard some offices are reporting there are pallets of kits already there, or at least components of the kits,” Kubat said.
In Philadelphia, the tests will be stored, built, and shipped out of a nearly 120,000-square-foot warehouse in Upper Chichester Township in Delaware County, which the USPS leased in November for five years for package overflow, said Philly APWU Local 89 president Nick Casselli. Casselli said he expects to get more information about the plans and shipments of the kits on Friday. The pilot program will last 75 days from Jan. 12, according to the agreement, which was signed Wednesday by national APWU president Mark Diamondstein and USPS vice president of labor relations Katherine Attridge.
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/covid-test-kits-usps-philadelphia-20220113.html
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