The federal government restarted its program Monday of providing free at-home COVID-19 tests to Americans.


What You Need To Know

  • The federal government restarted its program Monday of providing free at-home COVID-19 tests to Americans

  • Households can now request four rapid tests each by completing a form at COVIDTests.gov

  • The Biden administration announced the relaunch of the program last week

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 20,500 hospital admissions from COVID during the week ending on Sept. 16 — triple the amount compared to June

Households can now request four rapid tests each by completing a form at COVIDTests.gov. The tests will then be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service beginning Oct. 2.

The Biden administration announced the relaunch of the program last week. 

“[President Joe Biden] believes it's very important to make sure that all Americans have access to tests, and so we will once again begin our program to provide Americans with an opportunity to request tests,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters Wednesday at an event at a pharmacy where he received both his COVID booster and flu shots. 

The ability to order free at-home COVID-19 home tests was suspended in June “to preserve remaining supply.”

Becerra said HHS has been resupplying its testing kit stockpile. “And so we will make available some of those tests that we have in our stockpile so that Americans can use them.”

The White House also announced last week it is providing $600 million to manufacture more COVID-19 tests.

The home test program distributed more than 755 million tests before suspending the program, with about 40% of those going to underserved communities, HHS said. The government continued to provide tests through local outreach programs after suspending the program.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 20,500 hospital admissions from COVID during the week ending on Sept. 16 — triple the amount compared to June. 

The percentage of lab-based COVID test positivity is 12.5% across the country, and higher in parts of the Southwest and Midwest. That information does not include at-home antigen tests, the results of which are not reported to local or federal health agencies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.