WASHINGTON — In the wake of a summer wave of COVID-19 cases, Americans will be able to receive free virus testing kits delivered to their homes starting in late September.
When the federal program reopens, American households will be able to order up to four COVID-19 nasal swab tests, according to the website COVIDtests.gov. The U.S. Health and Human Services agency that oversees the testing has not announced an exact date for resuming ordering.
These tests will detect current virus strains and can be ordered ahead of the holiday season, when families and friends gather to celebrate, an HHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Until last year, over-the-counter COVID-19 tests administered at home typically cost about $11.
The announcement comes as the government is once again urging people to get an updated COVID-19 booster ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season. Earlier this week, U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine designed to combat recent virus variants and, hopefully, the coming winter variants. Vaccine uptake, however, is lagging. Most Americans have some immunity from previous infections or vaccinations, but data shows less than a quarter of U.S. adults got a COVID-19 shot last fall.
The Biden administration has distributed 1.8 billion COVID-19 test kits, half of which have been delivered to homes by mail. It's unclear how many test kits the federal government has on hand.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been used to develop tests, vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.
Although deaths and severe infections have dropped dramatically since COVID-19 began spreading to the U.S. in 2020, hospitalizations have increased slightly in recent weeks. Overall, more than 1 million Americans have died from the virus.