The free at-home COVID-19 testing program is just back. This test is called rapid antigen test. It looks for the protein coat material that covers the viral genetic RNA. Testing for viral RNA is called a PCR test. The free testing program was first launched in January 2022 and initially allowed four free tests per residential household.
It was extended into March and May 2022, before being suspended in September 2022. It was then revived in December before closing on May 31, 2023, after COVID was officially declared a public health emergency on May 11.
It provided more than 755 million tests domestically. The reopened program allows each household to order four free tests at home at a time. They are available free of charge and ship free via USPS.
What’s behind the new $600 million investment? Covid has been rising again in the last several weeks. Hospitalizations have exceeded 20,000 per week for the first time since March 2023. The total COVID death toll in the state has reached 15,000, according to a September 9 article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Covid is killing two people a day, compared with one death every four days last summer.
The second thing is that influenza is on the horizon, as well as adult respiratory syncytial virus or RSV infection. If your home test is positive, you know you are feeling down because of COVID and not the other two infections. There is a drug for COVID called Paxlovid, which reduces your chance of getting very sick and/or dying from it. There are also medicines to treat influenza to reduce its effects. But they don’t help Covid. This makes it important to treat the correct disease. By now, it’s likely that almost everyone knows someone who has died from COVID or other medical problems caused by that virus.
Here’s information about how to order tests. Go to COVIDtests.gov and click on the button that says, “Order a free home test.” For those who are not able to (or do not wish to) order through the website, there is also a government hotline, 1-800-232-0233, or for the hearing impaired, TTY 1-888-720. -7489.
You may have unused tests out of date at home. The FDA has extended the expiration dates of some of them and posted a list of them per brand.
A medical doctor wrote an opinion piece about rapid antigen tests for a medical website called MedPage Today. He explained in detail about the shortcomings of rapid antigen test. In reality, no test is foolproof. But it is a tool to help prevent disease for you and those close to you, especially those whose immunity is weakened for any reason.
The main trick of these tests is to test again in a few days if the first attempt is negative. Additionally, the time for a positive test result may expire. If you’ve been tested a few times over a week, and all the results are negative, you probably don’t have COVID. I suggested that it’s fun to feel positive despite being negative once in a while.
Making tests available for free (of course, we’re indirectly paying for them) isn’t a bad idea. When you’re around at-risk people, it’s worth considering their well-being as much as your own. The idea of extending expiration dates on tests reminded me of the story where the doctor told the patient he only had six months to live. The patient said he didn’t think he could pay his bill. The doctor said, “Okay, you have six more months.”
Dr. Frank Buers, a semi-retired dermatologist, has worked in Winona, La Crosse, Viroqua and Red Wing since 1978. He also plays clarinet in the Winona Municipal Band and some Dixieland groups.