Free COVID-19 home test kits are still available through the postal service

As part of President Joe Biden’s plan to address the pandemic, the U.S. Postal Service has provided more than 270 million free COVID-19 test kits to 68 million U.S. households.

The test kit packages with four tests per. sets have been shipped to U.S. households across all states, tribes and territories. More than 6 million COVID-19 test kit packages were delivered on February 22, the highest single-day quantity delivered since shipping began in late January.

“There are few assignments received by the Postal Service that better exemplify our public service mission than the request from the Biden Administration to provide the U.S. COVID-19 test kit,” said Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy.

The test kits can be ordered at covidtests.gov, which was launched on December 21, 2021 or by calling 1-800-232-0233 and (TTY 1-888-720-7489).

When an order is placed on covidtests.gov the website, the requester will receive an order confirmation via email and further status updates as the package is shipped. Requesters can track their package online and receive status updates via the Informed Delivery notification feature.

After the high season of 2021, the postal service negotiated with the postal unions to retain seasonal staff to handle the delivery of the influx of millions of test kits. Orders in Hawaii, Alaska, US territories and APO / FPO / DPO addresses were sent via Priority Mail, where orders to the continental US are sent through the First Class Package Service.

The project involved a strong collaboration between the Post Office, the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense.