93-3-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now, Preston and Steve's news update with Kathy Romano.

Today is Tuesday, December 21st, first day of winter.

Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning in the news this morning.

The city of Philadelphia started giving out COVID-19 home test kits for free, and supplies ran out at many locations. Officials are

encouraging testing before attending holiday gatherings, even for people who are vaccinated and boosted

because there are a growing number of breakthrough cases. The Philadelphia Health Department

planned a distribution of up to 24,000 rapid at-home

COVID test kits Monday to meet the holiday rush demand. City officials say there's a shortage of

qualified staffers to administer COVID tests, adding the labs that run these tests are overwhelmed.

Kathy, I've been modding pregnancy tests and I've been COVID-clean for quite a while.

Did have a little scare though? Wait, you've been modding them? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know you could hear that. I had vanilla extract. And you had a pulse positive? A false positive? I'm sorry. And I had to call my boyfriend. Right. Congratulations. Wow. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy is encouraging, safely celebrating the holidays.

Get tested. If in doubt, please keep your family circle close if you're in crowded parties

indoors and wear a map.

You know what have been news if he had encouraged recklessly celebrating the holidays. Go for it.

Forget about the tests.

Yeah. Murphy held his last COVID-19 briefing of 2021, and he made sure to highlight safety measures preventing the spread of COVID-19.

President Joe Biden will announce a plan later today to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid test to Americans beginning in January as part of an attempt to double down on the spread of a transmittable variant that has hit the United States. Right now, if you want that at-home COVID test kit, you must show proof of residence in Philadelphia. And today's locations, one is at the Tocconi Library from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lani Youth Rec Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. And then the Lillian Morero Library from 1130 until 4. Tomorrow, there will be

kits at the MLK Older Adult Center, which is on Cecil B. Moore Avenue in North Philadelphia

from 10 to 4. And then the Lawncrest Library from 11 a.m. until 5. And then finally on Thursday

at the Waterview Rec Center on East Germantown, they'll be there from 10 until 4 on Thursday. A 12-year-old

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