‘Test To Treat’ Program Aims To Make Antivirals Quicker To Access

CNBC: People Who Test Positive For Covid Can Receive Antiviral Pills At Pharmacies For Free, Biden Says
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the Americans who test positive for Covid-19 can receive antiviral pills for free at local pharmacies and community health centers under a new program that launches this month. “We’re launching the ‘Test to Treat’ initiative so people can get tested at a pharmacy, and if they’re positive, receive antiviral pills on the spot at no cost,” Biden said during his State of the Union speech Tuesday. The administration will launch hundreds of sites nationwide at CVS, Walgreens and Kroger as well as community health centers this month, a White House official said. (Kimball, 3/1)

The New York Times: Biden Announces Initiative To Pair Covid-19 Tests With Treatment
President Biden, looking to usher the nation out of the coronavirus crisis into what some are calling a “new normal,” used his State of the Union address Tuesday night to sketch out the next phase of his pandemic response, including a new “test to treat” initiative aimed at providing patients with new antiviral medications as soon as they learn they are infected. With caseloads declining across the country, the coronavirus — perhaps the biggest challenge of the first year of Mr. Biden’s presidency — took a back seat in the speech to Russian aggression in Ukraine and the economy. Still, the president did not miss an opportunity to give himself a pat on the back for the latest Covid-19 trends. (Stolberg, 3/1)

Axios: Biden Announces COVID "Test To Treat" Program
President Biden said tonight that more COVID antiviral treatments will become available sooner than expected and that his administration is launching a program to immediately get those pills to people who test positive for the virus. The pills dramatically reduce the chances that someone with COVID will become severely ill, making them a key tool for living with the virus. But that hinges on getting patients access to them in a timely manner after testing positive. (Owens, 3/1)

And more free tests are available from the government —

CNN: Americans Can Order Another Round Of Free At-Home Covid-19 Tests Next Week
Americans can order additional free at-home Covid-19 tests supplied by the US government starting next week. "If you already ordered free tests, tonight, I'm announcing you can order another group of tests. Go to Covidtest.gov starting next week and you can get more tests," President Joe Biden said during his Tuesday State of the Union address. In January, the government launched its effort to provide free rapid antigen tests to any household that requested them through that website or by calling 800-232-0233. There was a limit of four tests per residential address. (Dillinger and Mizelle, 3/1)

The White House may unveil more plans today —

Politico: White House To Unveil Blueprint For The Next Covid Phase 
The White House is planning to unveil its wide-ranging strategy for the next phase of the pandemic response on Wednesday morning, according to an internal document obtained by POLITICO. The Covid-19 strategy is expected to lay out how the nation can safely ease public health restrictions and restore some sense of normalcy as the U.S. enters what officials hope will be a less disruptive endemic stage of the virus. (Cancryn, 3/1)

AP: Biden Outlines COVID Plans, Says It's Time To Return To Work
His comments come ahead of the White House release of a new “National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan” on Wednesday. The White House said it would be “a roadmap that will enable us to move forward safely, and sustain and build on the progress we’ve made over the past 13 months.” In his remarks Tuesday, Biden said that in addition to starting the new antiviral initiative, his administration would allow people in the U.S. to order another round of free tests from the government. (Miller, 3/2)

Roll Call: COVID-19 Subvariants Not Expected To Slow Progress Against Pandemic
Public health experts expect the Biden administration to move carefully as it sets future pandemic policies and decides what to do with the current public health emergency because of a growing subvariant of the omicron variant of COVID-19. The new variant, known as BA.2, is more contagious than previous variants, including the original strain of omicron, BA.1, and is quickly picking up steam across the United States. But the new strain likely won’t slow the administration’s plans to ease some mitigation practices and return the country to a state of pre-pandemic normalcy. (Cohen, 3/2)

In related news about covid testing —

KHN: Covid Expert Joins Exodus Into Business, Where Science Parlays Into Profits
Millions of free covid-19 rapid tests arriving in Americans’ mailboxes are long-awaited vindication for Dr. Michael Mina, who, as a Harvard assistant professor, had been advocating for two years that the best way to limit covid is to identify it quickly, cheaply, and widely with rapid antigen tests so infected people know to isolate themselves. ... On Oct. 22, he was one of a small group of experts on a Zoom call to advise the Biden administration to urgently ramp up testing by purchasing and sending Americans free tests. But three weeks after that call, on Nov. 12, Mina announced he was leaving academia to become an executive at eMed, a startup that sells some of the most expensive rapid tests. (Hancock, 3/2)