RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – On Wednesday, the federal government debuted its new COVID-19 one-stop-shop website.
“Today, I’m announcing the launch of COVID.gov,” said President Joe Biden.
COVID.gov is meant to provide better access to tools needed to navigate the virus.
“The bottom line, no longer will Americans have to scour the internet to find vaccines, treatment, tests or masks,” the president said.
The Biden administration said one of the website’s features, the Test-to-Treat locator, will help streamline the process between testing positive for COVID-19 and getting treatment for the virus.
The president announced the initiative in his State of the Union address. The White House said there are more than 2,000 of these sites across the country. Another 240 Test-to-Treat sites are located at Veteran’s Health Administration and Department of Defense facilities, the White House said.
Antiviral pills for COVID-19 must be taken within five days of your first symptoms.
The initiative allows patients to get treatment pills where they receive their testing on the spot at no cost.
“These pills are really exciting because they can reduce the likelihood of hospitalizations from COVID by 90% and so by co-locating testing and treatment what you do is you make it more possible for folks to take advantage of these pills within that five-day window that they have,” said Dr. Cameron Webb, senior advisor to the White House COVID response team.
In the Triangle area, there are more than 30 Test-to-Treat sites.
Most are CVS pharmacies, largely in the Raleigh area. Fayetteville has two locations listed.
A few local pharmacies are part of the national program. In Raleigh, Health Park Pharmacy and Falls River Pharmacy have joined the program. Other smaller pharmacies in the program include Benson Health, Hillsborough Pharmacy, and Wilson Medical Group.
“When we have life-saving therapies, we want to make sure as many people as possible can get them,” Webb said.
The government website also shows hundreds of pharmacies with supply of antiviral pills. That list includes Walgreens and other locally-owned pharmacies.
Click here to find a test-to-treat location near you.
Though COVID-19 numbers are improving, Webb emphasizes the pandemic isn’t over and encourages people to make use of the resources on COVID.gov.
“We like that folks are getting closer to their normal routines but we’ve got to sustain that progress by taking advantage of the tools that we’ve developed,” Webb said.
Click here to find a test-to-treat location near you.
