Free COVID-19 Test Kits Available and Free Masks Soon to Follow

Looking for COVID-19 test kits? The U.S. government is now offering free testing kits through a website, COVIDTests.gov, which then directs people to a U.S. Postal Service site, USA Today reports.

The site, which was launched Tuesday and officially opened yesterday, provides each person who visits it the opportunity to order four kits per address. Once ordered, the tests will be mailed within seven to 12 days.

There were a few bugs with the website, but government officials expect them to be smoothed out soon. Everyone who orders the kits will receive email notifications with shipping updates, including an estimated delivery date and a tracking number on USPS.com.

The Biden administration also will distribute 400 million free, high-quality masks through pharmacies and community health centers, Politico reports. The masks will be non-surgical N95s from the government’s Strategic National Stockpile.

The giveaway is in response to growing pressure on the administration to encourage Americans to replace cloth masks with more protective versions, amid evidence that the cloth coverings do not work as well against the more transmissible Omicron variant. Public health experts and former Biden transition advisers also had lobbied the White House in recent weeks to give out masks, as affordable and genuine N95s are still difficult to find.

The masks will be available at pharmacies and health centers by early February.