The Biden administration announced it will reactivate a government website that will allow Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests at the end of September.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. households will be able to order four free COVID-19 tests at the end of September at COVIDTests.gov. HHS has not yet indicated an exact date when the ordering window will open.
“The COVID-19 Tests will detect current COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year,” the HHS announcement says.
The administration originally launched the COVIDTests.gov site in January 2022. The program has distributed over 900 million tests directly to American households.
HHS’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response partnered with the United States Digital Service and the United States Postal Service to build the website. The site has served as a success story for the Federal government when it comes to customer experience.
The site’s infrastructure was stable enough to receive over eight million COVID-19 test kit orders within the first 48 hours of its launch. At times, the COVIDTests.gov website was the most-visited Federal government website, reaching over 700,000 visitors at once on Jan. 18, 2022, according to analytics.usa.gov.
This latest round of reactivating the website marks the seventh time the Biden administration has made free tests available for all Americans.
The announcement comes as the number of COVID-19 cases has risen across the country, driven by new variants. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just approved updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines on Aug. 22 to more closely target the variants currently circulating.
