Opinion: Why the new free Covid-19 tests matter

Editor’s Note: Dr. Megan Ranney is the deputy dean at the School of Public Health at Brown University and a professor of emergency medicine at the university’s Warren Alpert Medical School. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.

CNN
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On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that the United States Postal Service will once again be sending four free Covid-19 tests to every household that orders them through covidtests.gov.

But we are in the midst of a terrible, no good, horrible season of several respiratory viruses. More than 10% of deaths in the US last week were due to influenza, Covid-19 or pneumonia (both bacterial and viral), well above expected levels this time of year. We are short on key medications in some places. We continue to experience severe health care staff shortages and hospital overcrowding. Masking and bivalent Covid-19 boosters remain underutilized.

All this prompts the question: Are four tests just window-dressing in the face of this winter surge?

It’s true that four tests per family are not a lot. But they are illustrative of a larger group of ongoing wins against Covid-19 – outside of vaccination – that should be celebrated, and then examined closely for lessons learned.

The first under-appreciated fact is that frequent, easily accessible antigen testing for all remains a key part of Covid-19 mitigation – and rapid at-home testing for Covid-19 is now available to (almost) all of us. Performing an at-home test before you go to a holiday party, a few days after you’ve been exposed to the virus or when you’re feeling ill reduces the chance of unintentional virus spread.

It may be tough to remember now, but it wasn’t until the spring of 2021 that at-home testing even became available to the public. Then, they were expensive and difficult to find. Not surprisingly, huge disparities in use were observed in those early months. Minorities, the elderly and low-income people were less likely to use them.

But thanks to the flexibility that a public health emergency declaration provided to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in early 2020, along with the federal government’s connections and buying power, hundreds of at-home Covid-19 tests have now received emergency use authorization, and there is ample availability….