COVIDtests.gov

Last updated
COVIDtests.gov
Type of site
Government services
Available inEnglish
Spanish
Chinese
URL www.covidtests.gov (English)
www.covidtests.gov/es/ (Spanish)
www.covidtests.gov/zh/ (Chinese)
CommercialNo
RegistrationNo
LaunchedJanuary 14, 2022;22 months ago (2022-01-14)
Current statusActive

COVIDtests.gov is a website through which American residents, as well as those receiving US diplomatic and military mail, [1] can order free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests from the US government. It was announced that the site would open for orders on January 19, 2022, [2] but instead opened a day early, on January 18. [3] The program was suspended in September 2022 to preserve the remaining supply of tests in preparation for a potential winter COVID-19 wave as the Biden administration worked to secure greater COVID-19 funding from Congress; the program was relaunched December 15, 2022. [4] [5] The program was again suspended on May 11, 2023 when the Covid-19 public health emergency was ended in the United States; it was relaunched September 25, 2023 amidst a late summer rise in Covid cases. [6]

Contents

Overview

The website was announced by President Joe Biden in December 2021, although it did not then have a name. [7] On January 12, 2022, a Wednesday, the White House announced the site would be online by the following weekend. [8]

A White House press release announcing the website on January 14, said that 500 million tests would be available when the site went live [9]

The site initially launched with just landing pages in English and Spanish. [2] [10] The English one said:

Every home in the U.S. can soon order 4 free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests. The tests will be completely free—there are no shipping costs and you don’t need to enter a credit card number. [2]

Also on January 14, CBS News wrote: "Tests should ship within seven to 12 days of ordering, the White House says. It's likely take longer than that to reach homes, though." [11] The New York Times said "people are unlikely to receive the free tests until the end of January at the earliest. In some parts of the country, that may be after the peak of the current surge of cases." [12]

The site opened for orders a day ahead of schedule, on January 18. At this time, the landing page was updated and expanded. The following message appeared at the top of the English language version:

COVIDtests.gov is up and running early to help prepare for the full launch tomorrow. We have tests for every residential address in the U.S. Please check back tomorrow if you run into any unexpected issues. [3]

At that time, the site said "orders will usually ship in 7-12 days." [3]

In March 2022, the Biden administration announced a second round of four free tests available to order, [13] and then in May 2022 a third round of eight free tests was made available to order, bringing the total number of tests a single American household could order up to 16. [14] When the program was relaunched in December 2022, a single American household was only allowed to order 4 free tests; the 16 from before September did not carry over. [15] When the program was again relaunched in September 2023, a single American household similarly was only given the chance to order four free tests; unordered tests from prior periods could not be claimed. However, the Biden administration allowed American households to order 4 additional tests, in addition to any unclaimed tests from September, on November 20, 2023. [16]

Use

COVIDtests.gov sends users to a special order form on the USPS website to order the tests. There, users fill out fields for contact information and shipping information. [3]

COVIDtests.gov also provides information on how the tests work, when to use then, and what to do with the results. [3]

Shortly after launch, CNN reported that most of their readers who had used COVIDtests.gov had no trouble ordering, but a minority ran into problems. [17]

Alternate ordering options

The site also lists phone numbers for ordering tests. Normal telephone users can call 1-800-232-0233; users of telephone text devices can call 1-888-720-7489. [17] [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 "COVIDtests.gov - Frequently Asked Questions". covidtests.gov. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "COVIDtests.gov". covidtests.gov. January 14, 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-01-14. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "COVIDtests.gov". covidtests.gov. January 18, 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Free COVID test website will be relaunched by federal government". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  5. ↑ "Free COVID tests online: White House reopens website to order free at-home tests as COVID cases rise - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2022-12-15. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  6. ↑ Gumbrecht, Jamie (2023-09-20). "US households will be able to order more free Covid-19 tests starting Monday". CNN. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  7. ↑ Lyons, Kim (December 21, 2021). "White House says it will set up a website to distribute 500 million free COVID tests". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 15, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  8. ↑ Clark, Mitchell (January 14, 2022). "White House: COVIDTests.gov will distribute free rapid tests starting January 19th". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022. On Wednesday of this week, a White House advisor said the site "should be online by this weekend." Technically, the government has made that deadline — you can visit COVIDTests.gov right now, though it's currently showing a landing page letting you know that tests will be available Wednesday and that you won't have to put in a credit card number to get one.
  9. ↑ "Fact Sheet: The Biden Administration to Begin Distributing At-Home, Rapid COVID-⁠19 Tests to Americans for Free". whitehouse.gov. The White House. January 14, 2022. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022. A half-billion tests will be available for order on January 19th and will be mailed directly to American households.
  10. ↑ "COVID.gov". January 14, 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-01-14. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  11. ↑ Watson, Kathryn (January 14, 2022). "Here's how to request free at-home COVID tests starting Wednesday". CBS News. CBS. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  12. ↑ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (January 14, 2022). "U.S. Government to Begin Accepting Requests for Free Covid Tests Next Week". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 17, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  13. ↑ https://www.npr.org/2022/03/07/1085022030/you-can-order-free-covid-tests-from-the-government-again
  14. ↑ "Fact Sheet: The Biden Administration Announces Americans Can Order Additional Free At-Home, Rapid COVID-19 Tests at COVIDTests.gov". The White House. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  15. ↑ "You Have Until the End of May to Order Free Covid Tests by Mail". Bloomberg.com. 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  16. ↑ https://special.usps.com/testkits
  17. 1 2 Kaitlan Collins, Maegan Vazquez and Tami Luhby (January 20, 2022). "Website to order free Covid-19 tests is up and running". CNN. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2022. Many CNN readers reported that the site was easy to use, and the order took only a few minutes to complete. Others, however, flagged that they ran into problems. Several readers said that when they tried to use the site, they were told that tests were already ordered for their address so their request could not be completed.
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