White House: 40% of free COVID tests to low-income areas

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says 40% of COVID-19 tests ordered through its program to distribute free at-home rapid tests have gone to Americans in distressed areas. That’s an upward revision from an estimate of around 20% of free tests ordered by people in “high vulnerability Zip Codes” that White House officials earlier provided to The Associated Press. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden announced that his administration would make available 500 million free COVID tests to anyone who wanted one. Orders have fallen off as omicron cases plummet and people feel less urgency to test.