WASHINGTON - The White House is finalizing plans to ship 500 million free at-home COVID-19 tests to Americans nationwide and has awarded its first contracts as part of this pledge."We are actively finalizing the details of the distribution mechanism, including a website as we've talked about," White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday. "I would expect us to provide those details next week, and yes, these tests will be sent out through the mail.""What I can say is, last night we issued out our first letter award to provide tests toward this half a billion.
This is just the first," Jean-Pierre added. President Joe Biden announced the initiative last month as part of a number of actions in the face of the rapidly-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus, which also includes increased support for overwhelmed hospitals and more vaccination sites nationwide.The U.S.
awarded its first contract on Thursday to Goldbelt Security in Newport News, Va., worth $51.6 million, as part of the delivery of COVID-19 test kits.
The effort is being funded by the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress in the spring, according to a statement shared by the Department of Defense.Sen.