The U.S. government is offering to send another round of four at-home virus tests ahead of the typical surge in cases during the winter holiday season.
Anyone who did not order a batch of four COVID-19 tests in September can secure up to eight of them this time around starting Monday at COVIDtests.gov. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver them for free.
The government is mailing out the coronavirus tests as the flu season kicks off and a spike in RSV cases has been reported in some spots around the country. Hospitalizations for COVID-19, which has killed more than 1 million people in the United States, were on the rise this fall but have stayed steady in recent weeks. Immunity from previous vaccinations and infections has kept case counts lower compared with other years.
The new release of free COVID-19 nasal swab tests also comes ahead of the first winter since the pandemic started that insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of them. On average, at-home tests now cost $11 out of pocket, according to an analysis by the nonprofit health research firm KFF.
The Food and Drug Administration also approved updated COVID-19 vaccines in September in the hopes of revving up protection for Americans this winter. The shots target an omicron descendant named XBB.1.5, replacing older vaccines that targeted the original coronavirus strain and a much earlier omicron version. Shots are recommended for everyone age 6 months or older, but uptake has been slow.
U.S. taxpayers have spent tens of billions of dollars to develop COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatments in the three years since the pandemic started.
The airline industry says it is contending with staff shortages that threaten to hamper operations amid the COVID resurgence, andDelta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian called on the CDC to revise its guidance for vaccinated workers who test positive from a 10-day quarantine to just five. Chuck Liberman, chief investment officer and managing partner at Advisors Capital Management LLC, joined Cheddar to talk about the current guidance on isolation and why he believes the omicron variant calls for more relaxed guidance given its reportedly mild symptoms.
Schools are shutting down in droves as the highly contagious omicron variant surges across the country. Denisha Merriweather, director of public relations and content marketing at the American Federation for Children, an advocacy organization for vouchers and tax credits for school choice, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the impact of remote learning on children. She argued that school districts have to be more proactive about the steps they are taking to engage students, and if they are unable to form better teaching methods, parents should be able to find alternative schools.
The boys discuss President Biden's plans to send out free rapid tests as the testing supply chain starts to buckle ahead of the holidays. Also, why aren't Americans having more babies, and The Matrix returns.
With the Build Back Better plan essentially out of the picture, economists are highlighting what the country might lose without the provisions designed to strengthen it. Among other things, this includes no more monthly payments for tens of millions of families, no universal Pre-K for 6 million children a year, and no billions of dollars in tax incentives for climate initiatives. Grace Segers, staff writer for The New Republic, joined Cheddar to discuss the various impacts on the economy without President Biden's spending bill.
Electric vehicle companies took a tumble Monday after Senator Joe Manchin killed Biden's 'Build Back Better' plan. Shares of Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian all fell rapidly as the plan had included significant incentives for the growing EV sector. Rich Steinberg, former executive at Nissan, BMW and Electrify America joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Michael Robinson, Chief Technology Strategist at Money Map Press, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why small and mid-cap stocks heating up during Tuesday's session is a very good sign for a stock market that ended the day's session sharply higher.
Coming off a 2021 campaign where the prices of Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies reached unpreceded levels, Bitwise Asset Management CIO Matt Hougan and OpenNode Co-Founder & CTO João Almeida join Cheddar News' Crypto Craze: The Year of the Token to discuss the ways the crypto market can soar even higher in 2022.
