Sept. 23, 2024 – Free COVID tests from the federal government will soon be available for order, perhaps as early as today.
Each household is eligible to order four tests at COVIDTests.gov that will be delivered by mail at no charge. The site states that ordering will be live by the end of the month. The tests “will detect current COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year,” according to the website, which appeared to be undergoing updates early Monday morning and was intermittently returning “server too busy” messages.
Free tests were also provided by the government around this time last year, although many of them are now expired. Some COVID test kits have had their expiration dates extended, and an FDA webpage offers a search tool to check whether a kit is still good to use.
“COVID-19 testing can help you know if you have COVID-19 so you can decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps to lower your chances of spreading the virus to others,” according to the CDC’s testing webpage.
The CDC now recommends that anyone with a positive COVID test take the same steps as when they test positive for other respiratory illnesses like the flu, including staying home and away from others until symptoms are improving and you’ve been fever-free for 24 hours without using a fever-reducing medicine like Tylenol.
When returning to school, work, and other normal activities, the CDC says to take additional precautions for 5 more days, such as increasing hand-washing, physical distancing, and wearing a mask when around people indoors. Those steps help protect others who may be at high risk of severe illness from COVID.
In August, the CDC recommended that all people age 6 months and older get the newest version of the COVID vaccine, which is updated annually like the flu shot to target more recently evolved viral strains. The shots are now available.
A particularly prolonged summer COVID surge is finally on the downturn, with 15% of tests reported to the CDC showing positive results. Last year, COVID began trending upward again at the end of October and peaked in January. The season also poses increased risks from influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), both of which currently remain at low levels nationwide.
