USPS providing at-home COVID-19 testing kits for free. Here’s how you can get one.

COVID-19 testing kits are now available at local pharmacies and can be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service. 

At-home testing kits are available for free at the click of a button. The U.S. Postal Service started taking orders for at-home COVID-19  testing kits in the beginning of Jan. This has made it easier for people to get tested and stay safe.

The White House has decided to work with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver 500 million COVID  testing kits to households around the country. There has been a demand for free coronavirus testing kits since the rise in COVID-19 cases in the beginning of the new year. Residents have stated that there should be free testing kits available since there has been a new spike in cases as the near year began.

“I believe that delivering at-home COVID-19 kits will help people stay safe by making sure that they do not  have COVID-19  before visiting friends and family.  At-home testing kits will also help people who have corona stay home and not spread it to other people,” Aquil Fletcher, junior music major, said.

Fletcher hopes to see a decline in positive coronavirus tests with the help of the U.S Postal Service.

To get free COVID -19 testing kits mailed to your home, visit the United States Postal Service website and fill out the form with your contact information and address. Please be mindful that there are a limited number of testing kits provided by the Postal Service. They provide four at home testing kits per household, which means there can only be one order of four tests per residential address. Delivery for testing kits started at the end of Jan. and will arrive in seven-12 business days after order is placed. 

“I will definitely take advantage of the free at-home testing kits to keep me safe and others around me,” Fletcher said.

Those living in an apartment must be sure to put the correct address so that the U.S. Postal Service website can verify it. 

If your household is in need of more than four testing kits or one is needed sooner, Doordash and GoPuff offer COVID-19 testing kits as well. Stores like Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens, that are connected to Doordash, you can place an order and get a COVID-19 testing kit delivered to your front door in less than an hour. The price of the testing kits are $23.99 plus tax.

“It is very convenient  that COVID-19 testing kits can get delivered through Doordash and GoPuff from places like CVS and Rite Aid because I am a college student and I can’t always make it to the nearest pharmacy. Ordering a testing kit from either Doordash or GoPuff is always a plus,” Geraldine Brown, junior psychology major, said.

Two websites where testing kits can be purchased at no cost are COVIDtests.gov and http://www.usps.com. The White House house is working on connecting a phone line for residents to call and order COVID-19 testing kits, but a date has not been announced yet. All testing kits that are being ordered and delivered through the U.S. Postal Service are rapid tests and will take no longer than three minutes to provide results.