Free At-Home COVID Test Site Launches

Washington, DC – Instead of buying one at a pharmacy, you can now have a COVID-19 test shipped to your home for free. On Tuesday (Jan. 18) the US Government conducted a soft-launch of the new COVIDTests.Gov website, which will serve as the gateway to free COVID-19 tests for US residents. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki spoke about the website at a press conference and said the beta launch is necessary to make sure the site works seamlessly before it’s official rollout.  The site will officially launch on Wednesday (Jan. 19) and offer about 500 million tests for free. Currently, only four tests can be ordered per residential address, and each order should take about 7-12 days to ship—according to a statement from the White House. The site is rather simple in its construction and use. Those looking to just order tests can click the blue “Order Free At-Home Tests” button, which will redirect them to a United States Postal Service website. There you simply enter your name and address information and click order. Once that is complete, you should receive an order confirmation. A message states that tests should be mailed out sometime in late-January. NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I wanted to try the website out for myself, so I ordered a batch of tests to be sent to my home. All in all, the process took only a couple of minutes and went rather smoothly. It seems the hardest part about this ordeal will really just be the waiting. The same week the website was announced, the White House stated private health insurance companies will be required to cover at-home tests for free, on top of making an additional 10 million COVID-19 tests available to schools nationwide, each month. “Since January 2021, the Administration has taken significant action to dramatically increase the nation’s overall COVID-19 testing supply, the number of tests authorized for use in the U.S., and the number of places where Americans can get a test, while lowering costs for consumers and increasing access to free tests,” said the White House in a statement. The site’s debut comes a day after the US reported an increase of 855,149 COVID-19 cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. At the same time, the State of Florida announced an increase of 33,032 cases. Since January 11, Florida’s 7-day moving average of cases has decreased, dropping from an average of 65,660 to 49,671 on Monday (Jan. 17).