Federal Government offers Third Round of Free COVID-19 Tests

The federal government started taking orders Monday for a third round of Covid-19 test kits to be mailed to any U.S. household.

A Department of Health and Human Services website said Monday that all U.S. households were eligible to order a third round of tests. Each order now contains eight rapid antigen tests, the U.S. Postal Service website says. Previously, four tests were sent out at a time.

President Joe Biden in December announced a plan to ship free at-home tests to people across the country, and the website with the first tests went live in January, with a second round released in March.

The third round of at-home tests comes as the number of new COVID-19 cases has been increasing in recent weeks, although whether that factored into the latest round of tests was not immediately clear.

Where to get Self-Tests:

  • Order free tests at COVIDtests.gov. Free tests are also available through local health departments.
  • Buy tests online or in pharmacies and retail stores. Private health insurance may reimburse the cost of purchasing self-tests. Visit FDA’s website for a list of authorized tests.
  • If you’re not able to obtain a self-test when you need it, you might also visit a community testing site, or call your local health department for more options.


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