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the government is offering another wave of free covid tests to American households starting today the influx of tests comes as health officials prepare for an increase in cases around the holidays like we've seen before and we've seen it in the past three Winters in fact ABC's Elizabeth schully and ABC News contributor epidemiologist John Brownstein joined me now from war hi there friends hi there so Elizabeth let's start with you the government relaunching its now is its tests on the uh website why do you believe that they're doing this now they're giving Americans more options for even more tests where do the numbers stand right Ariel so the administration is really trying to encourage Americans to take advantage of these free tests ahead of what it expects could be a rise in covid cases over the holiday so our producer and reporter cheyen hasset has learned that the government as of today will start offering four more tests for free on the website co.gov this is the website that relaunched this fall ahead of the winter season and essentially if you haven't ordered any free tests from there you can get up to eight tests free of charge per household so this is an effort from the administration to try to get people to take advantage of these tests that the government is offering when it comes to where covid cases stand right now we have seen that emergency visits and hospitalizations are increasing but they are still at a lower rate than they were at this time last year Ariel yeah and Dr Brownstein we have talked offline a little bit about covid fatigue we know people don't want to believe it's still there but as we just heard there are still cases out there circulating and the cases could rise so how important is it for covid testing during the holiday season and when should people be taking that covid test right Ariel these free covid tests are going to be helpful during this holiday season as cases are starting to rise we want to prevent these super spreader events at the Thanksgiving table we want to make sure that we're reducing risk in in in returning to work and the best time to use these tests is the morning off right right before you're about to have that Gathering take that test if you're positive obviously stay at home but also remember we have other circulating virus uses like the flu RSV we don't have home tests for those widely available so if you are symptomatic you should stay at home either way good advice there and happy holidays to both of you ABC's Elizabeth schy and ABC News contributor epidemiologist John Brownstein good to see you both hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching