Each U.S. household is entitled to four free test kits, which will usually be shipped in 7 to 12 days, the federal site says. Two top aides to Pope Francis test positive for coronavirus. Cruise lines cancel several trips as Omicron rages.
At a White House news conference on Tuesday, President Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the official launch would take place on Wednesday morning, but that the site had begun taking orders during what she described as a “beta testing phase” conducted by the U.S. Digital Service, the government’s technology support division.
Also on Wednesday, the White House will announce that it is making 400 million “high quality,” nonsurgical N95 masks available, free of charge, at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the nation. The masks will be released from the Strategic National Stockpile, officials said, calling the effort the “largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.”
The two moves show that the Biden administration is trying to step up its coronavirus response as the highly infectious Omicron variant drives a spike in cases across the nation. The administration at first resisted the idea of sending tests to Americans’ homes, but it has now enlisted the U.S. Postal Service to handle orders and deliveries.
But it wasn’t long before the pilot testing revealed some apparent glitches.
Some people living in apartment buildings said they were blocked from ordering tests if other tenants had already put in requests for the same building. Some who receive their mail at post office boxes also reported confusion in ordering, because the site includes a disclaimer that says orders would ship only to valid residential addresses.
In a statement, the Postal Service said the problems were confined to “a small percentage of orders” and recommended that customers file a service request or contact the Postal Service help desk at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).
Matching testing supply with demand has been a persistent challenge for both the Trump and Biden administrations, and Mr. Biden has come under criticism for not ramping up the supply of rapid at-home tests quickly enough as Americans struggled to get tested amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Experts say there are three situations in which people should use at-home tests: if they begin to have symptoms of Covid-19; if they were exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus five or more days earlier; or if they are planning to gather indoors with someone at elevated risk from Covid-19,
At a White House news conference on Tuesday, President Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the official launch would take place on Wednesday morning, but that the site had begun taking orders during what she described as a “beta testing phase” conducted by the U.S. Digital Service, the government’s technology support division.
Also on Wednesday, the White House will announce that it is making 400 million “high quality,” nonsurgical N95 masks available, free of charge, at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the nation. The masks will be released from the Strategic National Stockpile, officials said, calling the effort the “largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.”
The two moves show that the Biden administration is trying to step up its coronavirus response as the highly infectious Omicron variant drives a spike in cases across the nation. The administration at first resisted the idea of sending tests to Americans’ homes, but it has now enlisted the U.S. Postal Service to handle orders and deliveries.
But it wasn’t long before the pilot testing revealed some apparent glitches.
Some people living in apartment buildings said they were blocked from ordering tests if other tenants had already put in requests for the same building. Some who receive their mail at post office boxes also reported confusion in ordering, because the site includes a disclaimer that says orders would ship only to valid residential addresses.
In a statement, the Postal Service said the problems were confined to “a small percentage of orders” and recommended that customers file a service request or contact the Postal Service help desk at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).
Matching testing supply with demand has been a persistent challenge for both the Trump and Biden administrations, and Mr. Biden has come under criticism for not ramping up the supply of rapid at-home tests quickly enough as Americans struggled to get tested amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Experts say there are three situations in which people should use at-home tests: if they begin to have symptoms of Covid-19; if they were exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus five or more days earlier; or if they are planning to gather indoors with someone at elevated risk from Covid-19, and want to assure themselves they are negative. Many of the Smithsonian’s other museums in Washington and the National Zoo are operating four days a week, from Thursday through Sunday.
In addition, the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall, the National Postal Museum and the Anacostia Community Museum are closed to visitors.
The week after Christmas — a particularly bustling time — the Smithsonian had closed five museums, including the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of African Art, the National Postal Museum, the Anacostia Community Museum and the National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery), through Jan 5. The closures, the organization said at the time, would allow all other museums to remain open and to be adequately staffed.
The organization had already been running on a reduced schedule this month. The zoo had been open daily, but it was cut to five days. Other museums had their days and hours reduced further.
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