Nearly half of Biden’s 500M free COVID tests still unclaimed

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half of the 500 million free COVID-19 tests that the Biden administration recently made available to Americans still haven’t been claimed as virus cases plummet and people feel less urgency to test. That’s according to administration officials who say the program still represents a step toward a deeper and more responsive testing program that will accommodate demand surges and remain on standby when cases wane. On the first day of the White House test giveaway in January, the government website COVIDtests.gov received 45 million orders. Now officials say fewer than 100,000 orders a day are coming in for the packages of four free rapid tests per household.