Tech

How to get 4 free Covid-19 tests at home (2022)


It took almost two years of living through the Covid-19 pandemic to get our first batch of free rapid home testing. Now, we are on our third. Any U.S. household—including U.S. territories and military sites—can request an additional four free tests. Orders start shipping this week. If you need to test now, we have a guide to finding the best test home test and outlined Order process and take the test below. Also, check out our guide to best N95 mask and other reusable masks we like. You can follow us Covid-19 insurance here.

Update December 2022: There’s been another round of testing now and we’ve added more details.

Gear Readers Special Offer: Get One 1 year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you will). Sign up to help fund the work we do every day.

If you buy something using the links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. looking for more information.

Table of contents

Here’s how to order your tests

Go directly to US Postal Service Covid-19 page. If you pass by CovidTests.gov, on the front page you will see “Order a free home test” in a blue bubble. Clicking that will redirect you to the appropriate USPS page. There, you will fill in your name and address. Include your email address so you can receive delivery notifications. Once you’ve filled in your address, click the green Check Now button to the right. It’s completely free, including shipping. Only one request should be placed per household.

If you want to order by phone or you know someone who doesn’t have internet access, you can call the helpline at 1-800-232-0233, although you may have to wait a while. Don’t call USPS, because no one you talk to can order on your behalf.

The first round of testing took several weeks to arrive, but the second round arrived within days. There’s no guarantee which brand you’ll get and you can’t choose, but the website says these are rapid at-home antigen tests licensed by the Food and Drug Administration. You will probably get iHealth tests we recommend.

You should get tested as soon as you start noticing symptoms or within five days of exposure, According to the Centers for Disease Control. If you have no symptoms and your first test is negative, do another test based on the manufacturer’s instructions. This usually happens within two to three days of the first test—most tests have two tests per box for this reason. If your test is positive, do another test to verify and isolate for five days.

Do you need to check now?

If you need to check as soon as possible, please check out our guide on Quick Covid-19 tests at home and where to find them. It also has more information about accuracy. Rapid tests usually give results in about 15 minutes and they are about 85% accurate.

The tests we recommend (to watch our guide to more retailers). Preliminary results show that the starred tests are better able to detect the Omicron variant:

news7g

News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button