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On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced COVIDTests.gov is now open for a third round of ordering. U.S. households are now able to order an additional eight at-home tests at COVIDTests.gov – bringing the total number of free tests available to each household since the start of the program to 16.
A press release said, “As the highly transmissible subvariants of omicron drive a rise in cases in parts of the country, free and accessible tests will help slow the spread of the virus.”
In January, President Biden committed to making 1 billion at-home tests available to the American people for free, including half-a-billion available for ordering at COVIDTests.gov. Since then, over 70 million households have visited COVIDTests.gov to order at-home tests to be mailed directly to them.
To date, the administration has delivered approximately 350 million free tests to mailboxes and doorsteps across the country, in U.S. territories, and at overseas military bases, with most tests delivered by the U.S. Postal Service within 48 hours of shipping.
The third round of tests available were purchased by the federal government earlier this year with funding from the American Rescue Plan.
People who have difficulty accessing the internet or need additional support placing an order can call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to get help in English, Spanish and more than 150 other languages from 8 a.m. to midnight ET, seven days a week. For more information, people can visit https://www.covid.gov/tests/faq.
The press release added, “COVID-19 testing is a critical tool to help mitigate the spread of the virus, which is why maintaining domestic testing capacity is an essential component of the president’s national COVID-19 preparedness plan.”