The Biden administration announced on Friday that it will resume offering free at-home Covid-19 tests to American households starting in late September, in response to the virus’s increased spread in the U.S. this summer.
Americans will be able to request four free tests through the website COVIDtests.gov, according to administration officials during a briefing.
These tests are designed to detect the current Covid variants, most of which are descendants of the highly transmissible Omicron variant JN.1.
“These tests will help keep families and their loved ones safe this fall and winter season,” said Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Health and Human Services Department, during the briefing.
She noted that this marks the seventh time in the past three years that the Biden-Harris administration has offered free over-the-counter Covid-19 tests through the government’s website.
Since the program’s inception in 2021, the government has distributed more than 1.8 billion free over-the-counter Covid tests to Americans, O’Connell added.
The program is being relaunched amid a significant summer spike in Covid cases, ahead of the fall and winter seasons when the virus typically spreads more widely each year.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Covid levels in wastewater are currently “high” or “very high” in nearly every U.S. state.
The decision to reopen the program in late September is timed with the period when more Americans begin to travel and gather indoors with loved ones.
“As people start to travel, as they start to get together with friends and family through the holidays, we want them to have those four tests available to them at that time,” said David Boucher, Director of Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response at HHS, during the briefing.
By that time, the latest round of Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna will also be available to most Americans at pharmacies, health clinics, and other locations nationwide.
The Food and Drug Administration approved these new shots on Thursday, which target a JN.1 offshoot called KP.2.
As Covid infections rise again, testing remains a crucial tool for protection.
However, traditional lab PCR tests, which have been a standard method for detecting Covid, have become more expensive and less accessible to some Americans since the U.S. government ended the public health emergency in May of last year.
Despite this, certain local health clinics and community sites continue to offer at-home tests to the public at no cost.
