The Biden administration on Friday launched a telephone number for individuals to call and order the free COVID-19 test kits provided by the federal government.
As of 8:00 a.m. EST, Americans can now call 1-800-232-0233 or TTY1-888-720-7489 to place an order for the tests, which will be shipped out by USPS within seven - 10 business days. The number also serves as a vaccination hotline, which has been active for several months.
The line will offer over 150 languages, including English and Spanish, and will be open for orders from 8 a.m. to midnight EST each day of the week. Individuals ordering tests over the phone will need to provide their name and home address; no credit card or health insurance is required.
The phone line launch comes on the heels of the federal COVIDtests.gov website that went live on Tuesday for Americans to order the four free rapid tests. The free call line was added so that “Americans who have difficulty accessing the Internet or need additional support can phone-in orders for their tests,” a government spokesperson said last week.
According to the White House, the tests will be sent out in late January, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday confirmed they will be “sent out very soon.”
“I don't have an updated number of how many have been ordered,” Psaki said at a press briefing. “It's changing constantly. I expect we will have more of an update on that hopefully by next week.”
The administration announced two separate purchases for a total of 1 billion rapid tests to be sent free-of-charge to Americans after facing mounting criticism for the short supply of tests as the highly contagious omicron variant drove a spike in cases and hospitalizations nationwide.
The federal government has taken numerous steps to make COVID-19 testing free-of-charge, or at the very least, covered and reimbursable for those who have health insurance.
As of Jan. 15, health insurance companies were required to reimburse or cover the cost of up to eight approved over-the-counter COVID tests per person per month.
In theory, the administration has procured enough tests for every U.S. resident, even for the approximately 28 million Americans without health insurance.
But there are a number of reasons why supply might still dwindle quickly. While federal health officials do not recommend testing as a precondition to leaving isolation for someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, they do recommend testing in a number of other scenarios: if a person has been exposed to an individual with COVID-19, if an individual feels symptoms of the virus or as a precautionary measure before attending an indoor gathering.
Officials also encourage serial testing – performing two or more tests over the period of several days – as it “improves the reliability of testing and reduces your risk of transmitting disease to others even further,” per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.