Free at-home covid test mail program will end Friday

Get your orders in while you can — the federal free covid test program is shutting down again at the end of the week.

The program, run through the U.S. Department of Health and the United States Postal Service, has provided free at-home covid-19 rapid tests in sets of four to households several times over the course of the pandemic through an online portal.

That website is shutting down on Friday, according to a statement on the USPS website.

The program initially began sending free covid tests to households across the country in January 2022, and ended in May of 2023, with the closing of the public health emergency.

It restarted again in September 2023, and offered another batch in November 2023.

The end of the program comes in the wake of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision last week to change its longstanding covid isolation guidelines. People who test positive can leave isolation if their symptoms are mild and improving, and if it’s been a day since they’ve had a fever.

U.S. residents can still put in one last request for an order of four free covid tests to be mailed to their home, as long as they do it before this Friday.

If an address has not placed an order since the program reopened in September 2023, that address can place two orders now for a total of eight tests, the website states.

Free covid tests for people who are uninsured also are available through the Increasing Community Access to Testing program.

A link provided on the Health and Human Services sitenotes that some at-home covid tests have had their printed expiration dates extended, and encourages people to check for their brand and lot number for clarification.