NEW YORK – The White House announced on Thursday that it has launched the first federally supported Test-to-Treat site at a clinic in Providence, Rhode Island.
Federal reimbursement will allow people who test positive for COVID-19 at the clinic, which also provides vaccinations, to receive an assessment from a healthcare provider, along with oral antiviral treatments if they are prescribed. The Test-to-Treat initiative was announced in March and allows patients to get tested for COVID-19 and fill a prescription for antiviral drugs, such as Pfizer's Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), in the same place, ensuring the drug is used early in the course of infection when it is most effective.
In addition, the White House said it will deploy clinical personnel to support staffing at multiple Minnesota state-run testing sites to turn them into Test-to-Treat sites. The sites will co-locate testing, a medical assessment, and oral antiviral treatments, the administration said in a statement. The "direct federal support will allow Minnesota to expand the capacity and reach of Test-to-Treat."
Additional federally supported sites will open in New York and Illinois "in the coming weeks," and the White House is working with other states and cities, including Massachusetts and New York City, to "enhance existing state-led efforts to increase access to oral antivirals like Paxlovid," it said.
These new sites add to the more than 2,500 Test-to-Treat locations currently operating across the US in pharmacies and community health centers.