U.S. households are able to order an additional eight free COVID-19 testing kits, bringing the total number of available testing kits to 16 per household since the start of the program.
This comes as the highly transmissible subvariants of Omicron increase the number of cases throughout the county. The Biden administration reported that the U.S. Postal Service delivered approximately 350 million free tests to mailboxes and doorsteps across the U.S. to date.
The at-home tests are delivered within 48 hours of shipping. The federal government purchased this round of tests earlier this year with funding from the American Rescue Plan.
Tests are available to every residential address in the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, overseas military, and diplomatic addresses.
“COVID-19 testing is a critical tool to help mitigate the spread of the virus, which is why maintaining domestic testing capacity is an essential component of the President’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan,” read a statement from the White House.
The Biden administration said, “due to Congress’s failure to provide additional funding for the nation’s COVID-19 response, the Administration cannot continue making the types of federal investments needed to sustain domestic testing manufacturing capacity, and this may jeopardize the federal government’s ability to provide free tests moving forward”.
Ordering Rapid at-home COVID-19 testing kits only takes a few minutes. Residents must enter their contact information and mailing address at www.COVIDTests.gov, and select “Place My Order”.
Those without internet access or that need additional help placing an order may call 1-800-232-0233 between 8 a.m. and midnight EST, any day of the week. No ID, credit card, or health insurance information is required.
Placing an order is completely free.
In addition to this program, there are numerous other options to get tested for free, including over 20,000 free community-based testing sites, including pharmacies, across the country.
For more information, people can visit https://www.covid.gov/tests/faq.
