At-home COVID-19 tests available for free starting Sept. 25

At-home COVID-19 tests are now available for order, for free, for any United States household.

By placing an order, households will receive four more COVID-19 rapid tests that will be delivered directly to their home.

Shipping will begin the week of Oct. 2, according to the United States Postal Service (USPS).

The announcement was made on Sept. 20 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

Preparedness

$600 million has been invested in 12 domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers to reopen the COVIDTests.gov website.

“The Biden-Harris Administration, in partnership with domestic manufacturers, has made great strides in addressing vulnerabilities in the U.S. supply chain by reducing our reliance on overseas manufacturing,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus.”

This upcoming round of ordering follows four previous rounds in which ASPR and USPS provided over 755 million tests free of charge to households across the country.

These efforts by ASPR are continual and work to distribute free COVID-19 tests to long-term care facilities, low-income senior housing, uninsured individuals and underserved communities with 500 million tests provided to date through these channels.

Detecting the current variants

These tests will detect the currently circulating COVID-19 variants, are intended for use through the end of 2023, and will include clear instructions on how to verify extended expiration dates.

In addition, if you have tests left over, check your tests to see if they are deemed “expired” on the packaging. COVID-19 tests’ expiration dates have been extended.

COVID-19 Resources

More about this initiative can be found online. Resources about self-testing can also be located on the CDC’s website.