The summer wave of COVID infections may be ebbing— nationwide weekly test positivity has been decreasing since the week ended Aug. 10—but with autumn now here and the winter holidays approaching, free COVID tests will once again become available in the coming days. Each U.
S. household is eligible to receive four rapid, at-home tests via COVIDtests.gov .
As of midday Sept. 24, a notice on the website still said it would reopen in “late September.” When it does, simply enter your name and home (or residential P.
O. Box) address, and the U.S.
Postal Service will ship the tests to you at no cost. The unspecified volume of tests are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The website said both standard—presumably nasal swab—and “more accessible” tests would be available, but didn’t elaborate on which brands or types of tests would be on offer.
The federal government has distributed more than 900 million COVID tests through the program since the start of the coronavirus pandemic , according to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services. When the agency announced last month that tests would be available this fall, the program had been suspended since March. Last year , COVIDtests.
gov reopened on Sept. 25, days after the Biden administration had announced a $600 million investment in a dozen domestic test manufacturers. They were expected to produce a combined 200 million over-the-coun.