Medical Testing

Free COVID-19 tests are coming back for fall 2024. Here's how to get them. The government has already disbursed more than 900 million free at-home COVID-19 tests, and will be reopening its free test kit portal. CBS News

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, has not yet said when it will start taking orders again for the at-home COVID-19 tests through the COVIDTests.gov website. It only instructs visitors to "come back to place your order in late September 2024."

National Academies: Wastewater surveillance could be even better for detecting pathogens A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report recommends five actions to transition the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS)—developed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic—to a forward-looking version for both endemic and emerging pathogens. CIDRAP

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The Academies recommended five steps to more robust NWSS that could better support public health, including better readiness for future pandemics:

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COVID map update: major shift in U.S. states with highest rates A new cluster of states across the country has seen a significant spike in the recorded COVID-19 cases. Newsweek

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For the week ending August 31, the CDC reported that 16.3 percent of all COVID-19 tests performed in the U.S.—excluding at-home test results—were coming back positive. This is a 0.4 percent decrease from the previous week, but the infection rates have not been evenly distributed across the country.

The below map illustrates the distribution of positive tests in the U.S., divided into 10 Health and Human Service regions.

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US COVID activity remains elevated as some indicators decline Though most indicators showed downward trends, deaths were up compared to the previous week. CIDRAP

The nation's COVID activity remains high, but there are more signs of decline in many areas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest updates.

Test positivity showed another small decline and is at 16.4% nationally, but is higher in the Midwest and Middle Atlantic. Emergency department visits declined 10.2% from the previous week, but are still at the moderate level in some of the southeastern states....