Americans will be able to order additional free COVID-19 tests beginning next week and, eventually, can receive free antiviral pills if they test positive at a pharmacy.
President Joe Biden announced during Tuesday's State of the Union that Americans can order four more at-home tests through the Postal Service starting next week. Households could order a shipment of four tests beginning in January.
Biden also said his administration will soon roll out a "Test to Treat" initiative allowing Americans who test positive for COVID-19 at a pharmacy to receive Pfizer's antiviral pills "on the spot at no cost."
"We will continue to combat the virus as we do other diseases," Biden said in his remarks. "And because this is a virus that mutates and spreads, we will stay on guard."
The Postal Service's ordering website said on Tuesday night that households which already ordered tests can "check back in next week" to order more. Households that haven't yet ordered any tests can order two sets of four tests beginning next week, according to the website.
A Postal Service spokesperson told KCBS Radio in an email on Tuesday night that the agency would share more details on Wednesday. The Department of Health and Human Services didn't respond to KCBS Radio's request for comment prior to publication.
Biden, who entered the House Chamber without a mask days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance saying most Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors, said the U.S. "can end the shutdown of schools and businesses" because of the widespread availability of tests, vaccines and, now, antivirals.
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The Food and Drug Administration provided an emergency use authorization in December for Pfizer's pill, Paxlovid, which Biden on Tuesday said can reduce the risk of hospitalization by 90%.
Biden said Paxlovid would be available for free to Americans who test positive for COVID-19 at a pharmacy, ostensibly at one of a handful of national chains or local drugstores the Department of Health and Human Services have partnered with to provide free testing.
COVID-19 cases continue to trend downward in the U.S., with CDC data from Monday showing the seven-day average of cases (68,480) at its lowest since October, prior to the omicron variant's surge. The U.S. hasn't averaged fewer than 68,000 cases over a weeklong period since the delta variant took hold in the middle of last summer.
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Biden nonetheless struck a cautiously optimistic tone about the future of the pandemic. Seventy-five percent of American adults are fully vaccinated, as are 69.1% of Americans aged 5 and older, and the president said the country is "moving forward safely, back to more normal routines."
"It's time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again," Biden said. "People working from home can feel safe to begin to return to the office."
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