Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra stated Wednesday that the federal government will restart its program to provide free at-home COVID tests.
“[President Biden] believes it’s very important to make sure that all Americans have access to tests, and so we will once again begin our program to provide Americans with an opportunity to request tests,” Becerra told reporters at an event at a pharmacy where he received both his COVID booster and flu shots.
“Stay tuned — we’ll try to get that out as quickly as possible,” he added. “But that is the plan moving forward.”
The ability to order free at-home COVID-19 home tests on the government’s covid.gov landing page was suspended in June “to preserve remaining supply.”
Moreover, Becerra said, HHS has been resupplying its testing kit stockpile. “And so we will make available some of those tests that we have in our stockpile so that Americans can use them.”
Becerra’s statement was later followed by a White House annoucement that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests, allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household. Orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Sept. 25, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service.
According to HHS, the home test program distributed more than 755 million tests before suspending the program, with about 40% of those going to underserved communities. The government continued to provide tests through local outreach programs after suspending the program.
According to the CDC, COVID-related hospitalizations have grown by 7.7% in the most recent data, from Sept. 3 to Sept. 9. The percentage of lab-based COVID test positivity is above 10% across the country, and higher in parts of the southwest and midwest. Note that information doesn’t include at-home antigen tests, the results of which are not reported to local or federal health agencies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.