A person walks past a COVID-19 testing site in Arlington, Va., on March 16, 2022. A new website launched by the Biden administration will provide a locator for testing facilities and treatment, and other services.
Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
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Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
A person walks past a COVID-19 testing site in Arlington, Va., on March 16, 2022. A new website launched by the Biden administration will provide a locator for testing facilities and treatment, and other services.
Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
Finding COVID vaccines, tests, and treatments could become easier these days, with the White House launching COVID.gov, a website meant to be a one-stop-shop for everything from free high quality face mask to anti virus.
“We couldn’t have done this six or eight months ago because we didn’t have all the tools available,” White House COVID response coordinator Jeff Zient said in an interview with NPR.
With the launch of the website, the White House is delivering on a promise President Biden made during his State of the Union address. In that speech, he announced an experimental program for the treatment “so that people can get tested at a pharmacy and if they’re positive, get an antiviral on the spot for free.” ”
Antiviral drugs, especially Pfizer’s Paxlovid, are highly effective in preventing hospitalization and death in people at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection. But they must be taken within the first five days of the onset of symptoms.
Up until this point, it’s really not that easy to find participating clinics and pharmacies. According to the White House, there are now more than 2,000 testing sites for treatment around the country where people can get tested for COVID-19 and, if prescribers say they need it, buy antivirals right away. COVID.gov has a new locator that makes it easy to find these services quickly.
In addition, the site offers:
- A vaccine/booster locator
- A form to request a free home COVID test (currently up to 8 per household)
- Look up CDC Community Risk Levels
- An experimental locator
- Information on where to get free high-quality masks
- Information on COVID symptoms, treatment, testing and travel
Many of the items on this new website are already available elsewhere, like information from the CDC about how COVID is spreading in your community or a free rapid COVID home test request form. But this puts it all in one place at a time when the White House is trying to move from the crisis phase of the pandemic to one that is manageable and not as disruptive as it once was.
“The nation’s medicine cabinet is full of effective treatments, we have free home tests, high-quality masks, high-quality vaccines and boosters, so the website gathers all these tools together and for convenience,” said Zient, who will be in a role at the White House soon.
However, Zient added that if Congress does not pass the additional COVID relief funds that the White House has requested, these tools may not be there when people really need them. Now, with the number of COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths all decreasing, there is a lot of rapid testing. And antiviral drugs that were already scarce are now plentiful. But that’s largely thanks to government procurement contracts.
The White House has had to waive a new contract for monoclonal antibody treatments and a reimbursement program for testing and treatment providers for the uninsured is ending.
Congressional negotiations are ongoing.
This afternoon, President Biden is expected to give an update on the country’s fight against COVID-19. In addition to drawing attention to the new site, Zient said Biden will “once again issue an urgent call for Congress to act and provide funding.”
Concerns are less today. There are many sources available. It’s about what will happen six months from now if there is another surge of COVID, like the one happening in Asia and Western Europe.
“We need to continue to protect the American people and prepare for any scenario,” Zient said. “I think it’s clear that the virus is unpredictable and fast-moving and won’t wait for Congress, so Congress needs to act urgently.”
The COVID.gov website is designed to be as accessible and easy to use as possible. It is available in English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese, and is written in a completely simple way so that the largest possible audience can understand and use the site. There is also a phone number for those who are not comfortable with the web.
