Update 9/26/24: Available again, shipping starts on September 30, 2024.
Update 3/5/24: This program is ending on Friday (3/8/24)
Update 11/20/23: Available again from today
Update 9/21/23: New round available from 9/25/23 at covid.gov/tests
Update 12/15/22: Live now at covid.gov/tests
Update 12/14/22: Program will be live again from 12/22/22
Update 8/30/22: Program ends on Friday, September 2nd
Update 5/16/22: Third round now live, this time 8 free tests.
Update 3/7/22: The second round is now live
Update 3/2/22: Starting next week every household is eligible for another four free COVID-19 home test kits.
Original Post:
Beginning today, each household can order up to 4 free Covid-19 home tests directly from the US government website with no credit card required and no shipping cost.
Insurance companies are now required to cover and reimburse home Covid tests, up to 8 per month at up to $12 each, but this government benefit works even for someone without insurance or who doesn’t want to go through the reimbursement process. These probably would not count against your limit-8 since they are not being paid for by the insurance companies.
I don’t plan on hoarding tests as I’d rather leave them for those who need, but do plan on getting a few tests to have on hand in case of future need.
View Comments (613)
What happens if I test positive? If I test negative, should I treat my cold/flu/strep any differently? "Happy birthday Uncle John, I'm here to make everyone sick, but don't worry, it's not covid!"
Covid killed science, reason and common sense
If Uncle John was in his 90s I wouldn't visit him while I was sick with anything contagious.
But COVID is especially dangerous to the elderly, especially contagious, and you can transmit it for a few days after you feel better.
If you've been sick recently it's a good idea to test for Covid before visiting anyone that old.
Scroll down to this post and imagine you are that granddaughter.
The CDC has even recently ended the COVID 5-day isolation guidelines for people who test positive for COVID. The grift is over because the actual data caught up with the misinformation the bureaucrats were pushing but there is still a lot of laundered tax payer money left flowing into stuff like this which is why they are still handing out "free" (i.e. taxpayer funded) COVID tests in 2024 and the main reaction to it is that if ridicule. It is like when you see that one person with brightly colored hair out in public still wearing a mask.
No one cares about your kooky nut job ramblings and theories except other nut jobs. Being loud and gullible doesn’t put you in the majority.
Even left-wing CNN has reported this, the number of COVIDiots like you is plummeting by the day. Didn't you get the memo to move on and cry about other things like Ukraine for a while and now Palestine? Any time people like you call something "kooky nut job ramblings and theories" we can be sure it is truth.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/01/health/cdc-covid-isolation-recommendations/index.html
Great website for people who have had their tenth boost and their brain has turned to mush. Be sure to wear your mask before viewing and ambulance on standby in case you have a heart attack due to "climate change".
You must be one of the poorly educated that Trump loves so much.
Anytime the government gives something out for free i have to question it. What's to say the test doesn't have something harmful in it?
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick - people today are such complete morons. We are doomed as a species - bring on the asteroid strike, we're finished!
It is like with the masks everybody was wearing, they have found that people have microplastics found in their lungs from the masks (most were made in China). Icing on the cake we now have multiple peer reviewed studies showing that masks did nothing and may have even had net harm to certain groups. Even with the CDC ending all the restrictions and admitting they had not data to support what they did you still have the pink haired liberals going around putting on the performance in 2024. There are lots of mentally ill people out there and they are very susceptible to adopting these sorts of lifestyles as a symptom.
You do know that doctors and nurses are using face mask way back even w/o covid.
Show me the studies you cited. And I will start with one recent study that concluded that mask is effective in reducing covid infection:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10446908/
The microplastics have clearly gotten to your head. Even the CDC has reversed their guidelines related to masks. Here is Cochrane review:
https://www.cochrane.org/news/featured-review-physical-interventions-interrupt-or-reduce-spread-respiratory-viruses
There have even been international studies that show that countries with strict lockdowns and mask mandates did no better than those with, and in fact there was evidence that they may have actually had poorer outcomes.
We have known this for years well before COVID. This is why society did not walk around in masks every flu season. Mask studies have existed for decades before COVID proving ineffectiveness at reducing community spread.
@mark LOL Do you realize that the cochrane review you linked specifically examined mask evidence PRIOR TO 2020? Just stick to your conspiracy theories, and leave the interpretation of scientific evidence to people who passed high school biology.
Airborne viruses existed before 2020. The coronavirus family existed well before that in fact. And if you were somewhat honest in your comment, you would know that the references to pasts studies in the publication are well justified – needed data to look at to come to conclusion when the pandemic was at its highest and people were looking for solutions.
But you're a moron, you said "conspirary theories" so you clearly don't know how to debate with someone with a higher IQ than yours.
Clearly you cannot read a scientific publication. But it is shocking that you do not read even the page linked by yourself:
Lisa Bero, Cochrane Public Health and Health Systems Senior Editor and an author on an Editorial published to accompany this review said, “The results of this review should be interpreted cautiously, and the uncertain findings should not be taken as evidence that these measures are not effective. Most of the trials looked at the effects of measures like face masks and hand washing on their own, however no single measure alone will be enough to reduce the spread of COVID-19...”
You're the one who doesn't know how to read a scientific publication.
You cherry picked what you wanted out of it.
The words you highlighted are typical nuances in any publication of this kind.
From the one you posted, I can cherry pick what I want too:
"For instance, findings related to the effectiveness of mask mandates do not mean that mask mandates are always effective or appropriate."
See?
And you're conveniently discarding the context and timing when all this was published, when the entire scientific community was muzzled and asked to convey a single coordinated message (guided by politicians, not scientists).
This was not a debate nor a scientific approach, this was a one sided controlled narrative.
Remember how they went from "you must not wear a mask" to "you must wear a mask"? I didn't forget. Same guy who did this also said "I am the science". So.
You have the option not to ask for the COVID test sets, don't you? And how does one assess potential risk of a test or treatment for COVID? It baffles me that some people would listen to a guy who recommended bleach as a treatment for COVID, while they do not trust a real doctor who spent his life study viruses and headed one of the most prestigious research institute on infectious diseases. SAD!
the 2min hate speech of the day, you win your goldenstein award
Every single "conspiracy theory" related to COVID has been proven true. The CDC has reversed every single guideline from the pandemic from masks to lockdowns to isolation protocols because we now have irrefutable proof that none of it works. The only people grasping at straws are you who refuse to this day to admit that "the science" that bureaucrats shoved down your throat was all nonsense. The guy you are praising in your post literally funded the lab that created the virus and then quit his job immediately after making a fortune during the pandemic to try and avoid Congressional investigation into his actions.
Why these "free" tests make a difference is because they are taxpayer funded. If you want to keep playing the COVID game then please do it on your own dollar. Perhaps just check yourself into a mental asylum and save us all money in the long run.
I had Covid in January of this year and fortunately had three tests left, so I could gauge when I got better. It took two weeks before I tested negative and could return to work.
A pair of test is upwards of $20 bucks and my insurance won't cover them. They tell me to go and see my doctor, which if HE tests me in HIS OFFICE, then it's free but I have a $30 copayment, so it's less to buy the tests straight
Covid test? I'll know when I have it. I'll feel like shit.
All you folks that turn a medical issue into something political are fucked up. Just let people deal with COVID-19 and other illnesses in their own way and carry on.
Imagine if they acted this way toward someone with cancer; pitchforks would be out across the board. But because it's covid and the government did some stuff they didn't like---which has nothing to do with the disease itself, by the way---suddenly it's okay to mock it and the many folks who died horrible, lonely deaths. For those in the highest at-risk groups covid is still, or at least should be, a valid concern.
We get it. Some of the vaccine mandates went overboard (why were they still required once the vaccines no longer curbed infection?). And some folks expected others to never leave their homes while masking 24/7. All irrelevant. It's a disease like any other and should be treated as such. Leave the politics at the door.
Acting like a jerk because other people act like jerks and/or foolishly shouldn't be acceptable. Unfortunately, that's what society has been boiled down to: one side defending their own extremism by mocking the extremism of the other side.
> Imagine if they acted this way toward someone with cancer
I can imagine very well because it happened.
The covidian cult did deny medical care to people who refused to take the jab.
People openly asked for this. Only one side did this.
> the government did some stuff they didn’t like
what a euphemism to describe one of the greatest tyrannies in the history of humanity. I am appalled that so many people don't understand the bridge we crossed, because if it were to happen again they would do the exact same thing.
Do you realize you've been lied to and manipulated by politicians, the same people who created this mess in the first place (yes, covid came from a lab, funded by the same people who claimed to help later... Connecting the dots much or no?) and that the measures taken have been unprecedented EVER.
Privacy? gone. Liberty to circulate? gone. Right to dispose of yourself? gone. Social death for people who didn't comply? dozens of different examples depending on the countries/regions.
This was a dangerous precedent and if people don't ask for accountability, then it's over, the dystopia is here.
> Some of the vaccine mandates went overboard
glad you see that. Now what, we forget and act like it didn't happen?
> It’s a disease like any other and should be treated as such. Leave the politics at the door.
I stopped being civil after 2020. I saw that many people revealed their true self.
They acted like the tyrants they are.
They didn't follow any rational or science (unlike what they claimed) and for several years they demonized anyone who would simply question things, and shut down any possible debate with at best, "you're a conspiracy theorist" made up phrases, and at worst with censorship and government proceedings.
> Unfortunately, that’s what society has been boiled down to: one side defending their own extremism by mocking the extremism of the other side.
Are there two sides and two extremes? yes. But they're not equal and one is far worse than the other.
Because only one side used and abused government power, took away some basic individual freedoms, used propaganda and censorship, divided people and created second class citizens, shut down the economy, mandated citizens to follow rules more stupid than the other.
Only one side claimed they owned the science and anyone who would question it was demonized for using their common sense when seeing things that didn't add up and the lies one after the other.
Should I remind you?
"covid comes from a bat that bit a pangolin that did spit in the soup of a guy in chinese market - it doesn't come from a lab"
"masks don't work"
"oh wait, actually masks do work so now they are mandatory"
"if you get the jab, you won't catch covid"
"if you get the jab, you won't spread covid"
"if you don't get the jab, you're antivax"
"jabs are safe and effective"
The magnitude of what happened is unprecedented.
Politics aren't going away.
You're either on the side of freedom or the tyranny.
There's no middle ground as we saw in the last years, because sadly a vast majority follows blindly whomever is in power, and they were willing to commit the most awful atrocities.
There were calls in some countries to open concentration camps for people who didn't agree.
Don't tell me this was for safety and medical reasons.
When they shut down bank accounts of the people who participated (or simply helped financially!) freedom convoys, that was an act of war against the citizens.
If you think there's two extremes that are equally stupid or evil, then you're on the side of the tyrants.
really that's your take? 3 years ago many people requested to deal with this "in their own way" and the answer was "comply, mask up, take the jab" or:
it's not about the tests. It's about the Orwellian world that came to a reality.
But your small mind is offended by this comment?
What about all the lies that you were told for the past 3 years, why does it not bother you?
there are other jobs i dont see the problem
This is not over, this is absolutely political because people like you won't recognize the tyranny and crime against humanity that was done in the name of "public safety".
I want people thrown in jail for what they have done.
No no guys, really. Covid is like, super serious. Get your 10th booster. You don't want grandma to die, do you?
It's crazy that people are still, to this day, defending what the government did and how the woke mob behaved. Who was it, Huxley? "To be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior 'righteous indignation', this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats."
More than twice as many Americans died from covid than than died in WW2.
Completely false.
But even if true, then what.
Are you looking for the real culprits, the ones who funded labs that engineer these bio weapons and who later covered their tracks?
Because so far, very few are asking for accountability.
You can believe covid was serious (at least for the elderly and/or those with preexisting medical conditions) without necessarily agreeing with how the government handled things nor with certain vaccine or masking policies. I suggest you google "thinking for oneself" and "how to not fall for laughably obvious polarization on either side of the political spectrum".
> “thinking for oneself”
hilarious (sarcasm).
For 3 years, you have had one side yelling "TRUST THE SCIENCE" and anyone who would point out that things were not adding up was shut down as "conspiracy theorist". The people who questioned the propaganda we've endured these past years are the ones able of critical thinking. The ones who blindly complied are not.
> “how to not fall for laughably obvious polarization on either side of the political spectrum”.
It wasn't political until one side used government powers to enforce their views on the problem.
One side asked to be left alone.
The other mandated, censored and attacked (by any possible mean) whomever would disagree.
No one cares, my body my choice
You say this so gliby, but in fact, I know an otherwise healthy ~90 year old grandfather who did just die from covid pneumonia. This past Christmas, his granddaughter attended the family gathering and then that evening called everyone to let them know that she had just tested positive for covid! Everyone at the lunch got covid, but the 90 yr old grandfather (who had gotten ALL the recommended booster shots) ended up with covid pneumonia and died last month after a lengthy hospital stay. The family is now in an uproar. Part of the family thinks the granddaughter must have had symptoms but didn't want to skip the family Christmas and thus did not test herself beforehand. Personally, if I was seeing my elderly loved ones, I would 100% test myself beforehand. Covid tests are free and easy to obtain, courtesy of the US government. Your immune system simply is not as responsive/effective once you are >85, and thus elderly people remain at high risk for covid mortality no matter how many booster shots they've gotten.
Indeed, this is how folks should be thinking about things, at least those whose entire existence doesn't revolve around a polarized political identity. Nothing has really changed for the greatest at-risk groups aside from the disease being less prevalent (but still around), hence why I continue to push for my grandma to get regular boosters (she's almost 90) as well as my mom (mid 60s) on top of testing before big family visits. Unfortunately, the other side of the family is antivax so getting them on board with that has been a challenge, especially now that we're several years removed from the covid peak.
Anyway, sorry to hear about that. It's sad to see some people so entrenched in their own nonsense that they would put others at real risk.
"some people so entrenched in their own nonsense that they would put others at real risk"
like when I was told I should take a "vaccine" that would:
While on the other side, reports started to come about side effects, for some reason myocarditis affecting more young males (me).
So. Science? Statistical nonsense to push the "vaccine" on young people. This is the nonsense you're talking about, right? This is the "real risk"?
I know this is of course not what you mean.
But this is what we're outraged about because most people act like if nothing happened.
Well, if you wanted to protect old people, what do you think about what Cuomo and Gritmer did then, sending infected people right into the most vulnerable population possible. Do you agree they should be prosecuted for what they did?
btw, I didn't the "vaccine" and there hasn't been a day I have regretted my choice.
Few people admit it in public, but in confidence many people who did take the "vaccine" tell me they wish they didn't. And many were forced to. And that didn't save grandma.
This should be pinned at the top.
Sorry for your loss. Thanks for letting people know that some things are very real regardless of how much of a narcissist they may be.
good thing the vaccine worked
Very well said!
Yikes. You appear to have the IQ of a snail.
I celebrate that the Republican voter pool got decimated. Lots of Herman Cain “award” winners!
I am still alive and I will survive you
That's how some feel about abortion and Democrats.
wow cant believe you said this outloud and 4 ppl upvoted you
How is that any different from OP's comment? Because plenty of grandmas and grandpas, among other folks, did die from covid. Two sides of the same coin and neither should be celebrated.
Maybe you can get a law passed to make it illegal to hurt the feelings of disease carrying super spreaders.
typical leftist. "pass a law". That's your way of thinking, someone you disagree with and the totalitarian you are immediately thinks of how to subvert power to silence the ones who disagree with you.
Imagine for a second, the people you hate don't see the government as a tool to enforce their ideas on others.
Think about that for a second.
tell me you're a horrible person without using the word "progressive"
This is a website for credit cards and deals, go rant somewhere else.
Do they have the anal swabs yet? I've been holding out for a while.
They may have ended it early, the sites down currently.
There's a girl who broke up w me, I am going to order 4 tests for her