CDC survey: One-third of households used federal COVID test kit program

WASHINGTON, D.C. — New federal data shows a third of households nationwide used free at-home COVID tests last year. This was all part of the White House program which shipped out free rapid tests in the mail to those who requested them.

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This latest CDC survey shows a lot of people not only knew about this federal program, but they used it too.

It found more than 41 million households used those test kits between January-May 2022 alone.

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The survey reveals about 23 percent of households may not have tested at home without this program. CDC researchers say the program also helped improve equity of COVID-19 tests at home. The agency explains both Black and white people reported similar use of these kits. It also found that Black people were 70 percent less likely to use other at-home tests.

“There were gaps in people’s ability to use them and to optimally deploy them. And what this home testing program did was kind of remove any of those barriers by allowing people to sign up and get them in their mail,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

But when the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends next month, access to testing will change nationwide.

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According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, private insurance companies won’t be required to cover the cost of COVID-19 tests.

But Dr. Adalja believes this shouldn’t be a dramatic shift.

“Hopefully, at this stage of the pandemic, we have a much more robust supply and much easier access for everybody of all races and socio demographic groups to be able to use home tests when they’re necessary,” said Dr. Adalja.

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Federal officials say the free test kit program may continue this year depending on supplies.

“Distribution of more than 750 million free COVID-19 tests shipped directly to more than 80 million American households through COVIDTests.gov, including more than 3.4 million tests with added accessibility to help blind and low-vision users independently administer their own tests. And more than 41% of tests were delivered to socially vulnerable households in communities high on the Equitable Distribution Index.” – a spokesperson from Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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