Americans are being given free COVID-19 tests again: how to get them

In anticipation of the upcoming holidays and a possible rise in cases this winter, the government is once again making it possible to order a new batch of four COVID-19 tests online for free. Writes about this ABC News.

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This can be done on the website covidtests.gov. Last spring, the end of the public health emergency waived the requirement for insurance companies to cover eight tests per month.

Over the past three years, as winter has arrived, the incidence of COVID-19 has also increased. The same number of hospitalizations are expected this year as last year, when cases peaked at about 45 per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The test ordering site relaunched last month, offering four tests per household, and will now offer an additional four tests per household for those who have already ordered, or eight tests per household for those who have not yet ordered.

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Since September this year, about 14,5 million households have ordered tests, and a total of 58 million tests have been delivered, according to the Office of Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Health officials say they hope people will take advantage of the free tests to be better prepared to interact with others, especially those who are more vulnerable to the coronavirus, especially during the holiday season.

“Families are gathering with older and younger people, and it is important that they are able to protect their loved ones from COVID-19,” said Dawn O'Connell, head of ASPR. “Therefore, we believe that opening the site just before the start of the winter holidays will be very important for the American public to ensure access to free tests.”

Some of the government's free tests also have expiration dates, O'Connell said, which is another reason to rush through them. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently extended the expiration dates for many home tests, but they still have a relatively short shelf life.

“We know the tests will be good for the next few months. But they won't always be good. So we think it's important that they get into the hands of Americans so that they can use them and protect themselves as we head into winter," O'Connell said.

The website, which offers free testing at home, has been running continuously since the winter of 2022, when cases of the Omicron strain increased across the country.

At the time, US President Joe Biden pledged to provide 1 billion free rapid tests to ease rising demand and an overburdened test manufacturing industry.

However, in the fall of that year, the government website was temporarily closed due to the protracted political battle over COVID-19 funding. Administration officials said they needed to preserve the tests in case Republicans did not agree to provide additional funds, which did not happen.

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Conservatives have become more skeptical about the continued provision of billions to fight the pandemic, including pointing to fraud that has marred some of the aid.

The testing site was relaunched in December 2022 as cases began to rise again, then shut down in June last year before being relaunched in September this year.

Testing will be supported by a $600 million investment in test manufacturers, which will provide about 200 million tests and replenish the federal reserve. Tests ordered from covidtests.gov will be drawn from this stockpile.

Funding for the $600 million investment will come from funds left over from the previous COVID-19 supplemental bill. Although Biden and congressional Republicans struck a debt-ceiling deal over the summer that returned about $30 billion in unspent funds, administration officials have said the funds are enough to replenish testing supplies this fall.

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