Free COVID checks provided by authorities: How one can order
On the finish of September, American households will be capable to order free COVID-19 checks that may detect present variants and be usable till the tip of the 12 months, in line with officers.
In August, public well being officers introduced that the COVIDtest.gov program will as soon as once more be made accessible forward of the COVID-19 surge that occurs throughout winter. The respiratory virus peaks twice a 12 months, as soon as in summer time and as soon as in winter, in line with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being.
Because the pandemic, COVID-19 joined the flu and RSV and have become a typical respiratory virus that peaks within the colder months of the 12 months.
New COVID variant:COVID variant XEC sees fast international progress: What to know in regards to the new pressure
Learn how to order the COVID-19 checks
To order the checks, go to COVIDtest.gov. As soon as ordered, the at-home checks might be shipped to properties without cost.
Every family can obtain as much as 4 free checks.
The checks will be capable to detect the dominant variants which might be circulating, together with the next subvariants, in line with the CDC.:
- KP.3.1.1- 37% of COVID-19 instances within the U.S.
- KP.3- Made up over 16% of all COVID-19 instances within the U.S.
The date when individuals can begin ordering the checks has not been introduced, nevertheless they are going to be accessible to order on the finish of the month.
Newest knowledge on COVID-19 variants
Based on the CDC’s newest Nowcast knowledge reflecting the two-week interval beginning on Sept. 1 and ending on Sept. 14., these are the commonest COVID variants:
Cannot see the desk? Click on right here to view it.
COVID-19 variant KP.3.1.1 accounts for greater than half of optimistic infections in the US, the newest projections from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) present.
The company’s Nowcast knowledge tracker, which shows COVID-19 estimates and projections for two-week durations, mirrored that the KP.3.1.1 variant accounted for 52.7% of optimistic infections, adopted by KP.2.3 at 12.2% within the two-week stretch beginning on Sept. 1 and ending on Sept. 14.
KP.3.1.1 first grew to become the main variant within the two-week interval, beginning on July twenty first and ending on August third.
“The KP.3.1.1 variant is similar to different circulating variants in the US. All present lineages are descendants of JN.1, which emerged in late 2023,” Rosa Norman, a spokesperson on the CDC, beforehand advised USA TODAY.
Beforehand, the KP.3.1.1 variant made up 40.0% of instances for the two-week interval that began on Aug. 18 and ended on Aug. 31, and KP.2.3 accounted for 14.5%. Based on the information, KP.3.1.1 rose 12.7%, and KP.2.3 decreased 2.3% from Aug. 31 in projected optimistic infections.
Though not mirrored on the CDC’s Nowcast knowledge tracker, a newly found COVID pressure often known as XEC continues to unfold quickly throughout a number of nations, together with the U.S.
Scripps Analysis’s Outbreak.data web page, final up to date on Sept. 5, reported 95 XEC instances throughout 12 U.S. states and 15 completely different nations.
Contributing: Sabine Martin, Shelby Slade; Arizona Republic; Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY
Julia Gomez is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. You possibly can join together with her on LinkedIn, observe her on X, previously Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or e-mail her at jgomez@gannett.com.
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the Nationwide Trending Workforce at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking information, automobile remembers, crime, well being, lottery and public coverage tales. E mail her at aforbes@gannett.com. Observe her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.
