Third Round of At-Home Covid-19 Tests Being Distributed to Americans For Free

The federal government is offering free Covid-19 tests to Americans for the third time, and they can order them online at COVIDtests.gov.

According to the website, the US Postal Service will distribute eight free rapid antigen tests to any US residence that requests them.  This boosts the total number of tests available per household to sixteen.

Without any prior notice, the site became operational on Monday to give the third round of free tests. The White House will make it official on Tuesday, but the site was already up and running and accepting orders.

Over the last two weeks, Covid cases in the US have increased by 60%, and hospitalizations have also started to rise. According to a White House fact sheet, “as the highly transmissible subvariants of Omicron drive a rise in cases in parts of the country, free and accessible tests will help slow the spread of the virus.”

The administration has been chastised for not providing enough testing to households if someone contracts COVID. Officials had earlier stated that they were waiting to see how strong the demand was.

The White House claims that 350 million tests have been sent to 70 million households, or more than half of the country’s homes since the program began.