The Postal Service is now taking orders for COVID-19 test kits

NPR
BRIAN NAYLOR

The U.S. Postal Service has begun taking orders for at-home COVID-19 test kits.

The website, COVIDtests.gov was originally slated to begin taking orders on Wednesday. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the site is in the “beta testing” stage and “will be launched formally tomorrow morning.” (Click here to see how many users are on the test kit site.)

Households can order up to 4 of the rapid tests, which the postal service says will be shipped for free “in late January.”

The White House says it will prioritize test shipments to Americans from zip codes that have experienced high rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths, with the first 20% of each day’s orders going to those areas.

President Biden last week announced that the administration plans to buy 1 billion at-home tests for Americans and also said the White House will make high-quality masks available for free, with details coming out this week. There will also be a phone number so those without access to computers or high-speed internet can place orders.