COVID-19, is that still a thing? It is, and to help prevent a spike in new cases this fall, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will once again distribute free COVID-19 tests.
Cases of the virus began increasing over the summer and health officials are concerned that a fall outbreak would place an undue burden on the healthcare system.
HHS has not said when it will begin taking orders for the free tests, but once it does households may order up to four tests at the COVIDTests.gov website. It’s a rerun of previous test distribution programs that so far have handed out 900 million test kits.
Once an order is placed on the website, the requested test kits will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.
The kits are designed to detect all current variants of the virus and help people learn quickly if their symptoms are COVID-19 and take steps to seek treatment and self-isolate to prevent its spread.
The kits are also available for purchase at drug stores. A package of two BinaxNow COVID-19 antigen self-test, produced by Abbott, costs $18.99 at most drug stores.