2nd round of free COVID tests available online to those who want more
The free COVID-19 test store is open once again.
Four more free, at-home rapid COVID-19 antigen tests are available starting now from COVIDtests.gov as President Biden’s administration works to get control of case numbers and infections.
Visitors to the website can enter their home address and order four more tests, gratis, and households that have already received a set can order more.
“Even if you already ordered free tests tonight, I am announcing that you can order more from COVIDtests.gov starting next week,” Biden said in last week’s State of the Union address.
That proved true, as a New York Daily News reporter easily put in a second order on Monday night.
Tests will arrive in seven to 10 days, according to NBC News.
The testing program builds on the one started in January, when the Biden administration made at-home rapid tests widely available as people strive to resume normal social interactions.
It’s one of four major components of Biden’s stated plan to get the nation moving forward safely, as White House COVID Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said last week in a brief overview on Twitter.
With 215 million, or three out of four, Americans fully vaccinated against COVID, the battle is closer to being won, at least on the home front. Biden’s push for worldwide immunity is one of the facets of his plan, Zients said.
Biden is also working on a test-to-treat plan that would supply pharmacies with treatments they could give as soon as someone tests positive on-site.
“The goal of the president’s plan is for us to return to our normal routines and no longer have COVID dictate how we live our lives,” Zients said.
As of last week, the U.S. Postal Service had delivered more than 270 million test kits to households in states, tribes and territories, the USPS announced last Wednesday.
More than 68 million orders had been placed for the test kit packages, which contain four tests apiece.
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