Free COVID Tests Are Back for Fall 2024—Here's How to Get Yours The website is not currently open, but the U.S. Health Department said tests will be available at the end of September. The tests are FDA-authorized and intended for use through the end of 2024
U.S households will again be able to order four more free COVID tests through COVIDTests.gov
- U.S. households will again be able to order four more free COVID tests through COVIDTests.gov.
- The website is not currently open, but the U.S. Health Department said tests will be available at the end of September.
- The tests are FDA-authorized and intended for use through the end of 2024.
Americans will soon be able to order yet another round of free COVID-19 tests from the U.S. government, the U.S. Health Department's Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) announced Monday.
The agency did not give an exact date for when the COVID tests would become available, but said that the tests were "coming soon" at the "end of September."
In keeping with past rules, each U.S. household is eligible to order four free COVID tests at COVIDTests.gov or on the U.S. Postal Service's website. Since its inception in January 2022, the government program has distributed more than 900 million tests to Americans.
The free tests are able to detect all current COVID variants and can be used through the end of 2024—a potentially helpful strategy as the virus is currently circulating at high levels across the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The news also comes on the heels of a new COVID variant called XEC that is spreading in Europe and has been detected in the U.S. Though it hasn't yet shown up in variant surveillance data from the CDC, experts speculate that it could spread more easily and may become the predominant variant in the U.S. over the coming months.
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How to Order Your Free COVID Tests
Each U.S. household will be able to order four free COVID tests from COVIDTests.gov beginning at the end of September. Currently, the website is closed for ordering tests, but the ASPR suggests it should open in the coming days.
Households may also acquire tests by visiting the USPS website. Ordering there "will restart in late September 2024" as well. The USPS also shared that households will be able to order "standard and more accessible COVID-19 tests...while supplies last."
Past ordering practices have required people to provide a valid U.S. address. The packages typically shipped within seven to 12 days, per the USPS.
People can also contact HRSA health centers, Test to Treat sites, or ICATT locations for more information on whether they might be eligible for low- or no-cost COVID tests in addition to those they might receive through the free COVID test program.
How to Use Your Free COVID Tests
The free COVID tests provided by the U.S. government are FDA-authorized at-home diagnostic tests and typically provide results within 30 minutes or less, according to the ASPR.
These at-home tests are also known as antigen tests or rapid tests. Depending on the type of test you receive, the test kit will include multiple parts and often requires swabbing one or both nostrils. The CDC urges anyone using an at-home test to thoroughly read the package inserts and follow the instructions closely.
Positive results from an at-home test are accurate and reliable, but a negative test cannot entirely rule out infection, according to the CDC. In this case, the agency recommends having two to three negative antigen tests to rule out a COVID infection.
Reporting your test results—positive or negative—can also be helpful in tracking the virus's spread throughout the U.S. The ASPR urges people to report any test results to public health agencies at MakeMyTestCount.org.
This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Amber Brenza
