PHILADELPHIA — As flu and cold season approaches, Americans are also being urged to remain vigilant about COVID-19. Soon, households across the U.S. will once again be able to order free COVID-19 test kits through a federal program aimed at curbing the spread of the virus this winter.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) is restarting its free COVID test ordering program at the end of September, allowing households to order four rapid nasal swab tests through the United States Postal Service.
The test can detect current COVID-19 variants and provide results in 30 minutes or less.
Pennsylvania is currently experiencing an increase in the percentage of deaths due to COVID-19, with around 50 deaths per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While this is a significant drop from from the 1,500 Pennsylvanians dying every week in December 2020, more than 55,000 Pennsylvanians have died due to COVID-19.
In August, the percentage of positive COVID cases nationwide reached its highest level since January 2022.
Pennsylvania and Delaware have remained “stable” in their case counts, while New Jersey’s cases are “growing,” according to the CDC’s epidemic growth tracker.
Nearly 1 billion tests have been distributed through the federal program at COVIDtests.gov so far. The tests are still available to uninsured people through existing HRSA-funded health centers or the CDC’s ICATT locations.
Without insurance or government assistance, over-the-counter COVID-19 tests can cost between $10 to $30, while some options that test for both flu and COVID-19 can cost up to $50, according to listings for at-home tests from Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.
Now, before the holiday season begins when friends and families gather indoors, HHS is reopening the program to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and encourage Americans to seek treatment early to avoid severe illness.
COVID test ordering will be available to all U.S. households. To place an order, individuals will need to provide their full name and a residential mailing address. It’s unclear how the program will operate this time around, but previously USPS only processed one order per household, not for each person in the household.
When the program restarts, orders can be placed at COVIDtests.gov. The exact start date has not been released yet.
