Free At-Home Tests, Google Outbreaks, Managing Long COVID

Biden administration to stop sending free at-home COVID tests Friday

The government will end its giveaway of COVID-19 at-home tests Friday because of insufficient congressional funding, a senior Biden administration official said Sunday.

A stockpile of the tests is being depleted, and officials want to have enough on hand in the event of a fall surge, the source said.

The giveaway, which includes tests mailed at no cost to recipients who request them at Covidtests.gov, will end Friday, according to an announcement on the site — unless there’s a surprise round of funding from Congress, the source said.

Read the full story here at NBCNews.com.

How to get free COVID-19 tests delivered before the program is suspended on Friday

On Friday, the federal government will suspend a program that delivers free at-home Covid-19 tests directly to Americans. However, you still have a chance to order your share of kits if you haven’t already, CNBC reports.

Each household can order up to 16 rapid antigen tests through Sept. 2. After that, the program will be halted because “Congress hasn’t provided additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests,” a message on the program’s website says.

“If Congress provides funding, we will expeditiously resume distribution of free tests through covidtests.gov,” a senior Biden administration official told NBC News on Sunday. “Until then, we believe reserving the remaining tests for distribution later this year is the best course.”

Get details on how to get tests delivered to your door here.

Struggling with long COVID, experts say diet and nutrition could help

Fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations and breathing difficulties.

Those are just some of the common symptoms of “long Covid” that can affect people in the long term after recovery from infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

There’s still much left to learn about long Covid. While eating the right foods is not a cure for long Covid, diet and nutrition could play a key role in helping those suffering from it to cope, experts tell CNBC Make It.

For those looking for ways to cope with the symptoms of long Covid, CNBC Make It finds out what you should and shouldn’t be eating. Read the full story from CNBC here.

Google employees frustrated after office COVID outbreaks

Google employees are receiving regular notifications from management of Covid-19 infections, causing some to question the company’s return-to-office mandates.

The employees, who spoke with CNBC on the condition of anonymity, said since they have been asked to return to offices, infections notifications pop up in their email inboxes regularly. Employees are reacting with frustration and memes.

The company began requiring most employees to return to physical offices at least three days a week in April. Since then, staffers have pushed back on the mandate after they worked efficiently for so long at home while the company enjoyed some of its fastest revenue growth in 15 years. Google has offered full-time employees the option to request permanent remote work, but it’s unclear how many workers have been approved.

Moderna sues Pfizer, BioNTech for patient infringement over mRNA tech used to develop COVID vaccine

Moderna sued Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Friday, alleging that the two companies copied Moderna’s technology in developing their COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty.

Moderna said in a news release that Pfizer/BioNTech infringed on patents filed between 2010 and 2016 covering its mRNA technology, which Moderna used to develop its own COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax.

Read the full story here.