Americans will be able to order four free COVID-19 tests at the end of September that will be delivered to their mailbox. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Today — Friday, March 8 — is your last chance to order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government through the United States Postal Service (USPS).
A message on the covidtests.gov site states, “Ordering four free COVID-19 tests via this website will be suspended after Friday, March 8, 2024,” and that “All orders placed on or before March 8 will be delivered.”
To be extra safe you don’t miss this deadline, place an order for your free COVID-19 tests (if you’re eligible) before midnight Eastern time on Friday, which is 9 p.m. Pacific time.
The White House’s free COVID-19 test program, which first launched in 2022, was originally shuttered back in the summer of 2023, only to be reopened in September amid a national rise in coronavirus rates and hospitalizations in part fueled by the emergence of the EG.5 “Eris” variant.
Previously, the CDC advised that people who have tested positive should stay home for at least five days, regardless of symptoms — but now the agency recommends that COVID-positive people can return to work or regular activities once “symptoms are improving overall,” and they’ve been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of a fever-reducing medication.
Still, as we approach year five of the pandemic, COVID-19 remains with us. And this announcement about the closing of the federal government’s free COVID-19 test program aside, if you’ve been finding it increasingly hard to find a low-cost COVID-19 test more generally, you’re not alone. Use the links below to find a free or low-cost COVID-19 test near you, or keep reading to find out more about these USPS test kits.
Ending those executive orders meant a large portion of funding for free COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics then ended — and costs for individuals have now crept up accordingly. For example, after May 11, 2023, the federal government stopped requiring insurance companies in the United States to reimburse families for eight at-home COVID-19 tests per month.
To be sure, the virus by no means vanished after the emergency orders ended. In 2024, COVID-19 continues to affect lives every day and testing can still be a key tool for reducing your risks of infecting others.
Here are some pointers on how to secure a COVID-19 test.
Order free at-home COVID tests from the US government via USPS
After placing an order, you’ll also see a message that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the expiration dates on these tests. So don’t worry if you see “expired” on any box of tests you receive — you can still use them. See the FDA’s full list of expiration date extensions.
Every residential address (and residential P.O. box) in the United States is eligible to receive one order of four at-home COVID-19 tests — not every person or every family. This means multiple orders to the same address under different names won’t be processed.
For example, if you live with several roommates or in a large multigenerational household, only one person can place an order for that address. Realistically, this might mean that the tests you receive are not enough to cover everyone in your household.
COVID-19 testing has changed hugely over the course of the pandemic. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Find a COVID test through your health care provider
If you are insured with major Bay Area providers such as Kaiser Permanente or Sutter Health, the easiest option to secure a COVID-19 test may be to make an appointment through that particular provider. Most providers offer sign-ups online through a member’s login, and appointments can also be made by phone.
Remember that people with private insurance may experience new out-of-pocket costs for PCR tests after the end of the emergency orders in 2023, depending on the provider.
Most people, regardless of insurance coverage, will have to pay for over-the-counter rapid at-home COVID-19 tests after the federal emergency order ends. Thanks to a state bill passed in October 2021, Californians can still claim reimbursement from their health insurer for rapid antigen tests, although as of November 2023, those tests have to be obtained “in-network.”
Find a COVID test through California’s statewide testing map
Since so many vaccination sites have closed in 2023 with the end of the emergency orders, call ahead before making the trip for a drop-in, just in case a site closure isn’t reflected on this map.
Free COVID-19 tests are much harder to find in 2023. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
Find a COVID test through the CDC’s No-Cost Testing Locator
The majority of the county testing sites you saw at the height of the pandemic have now shut down — but your county may have several sites still operating, often in partnership with community groups.
Updated testing site locations can be found at each county’s testing webpage below, although you may find some of these pages redirect you to the state or U.S. testing location finders instead.
San Mateo COVID-19 testing page now says that “State-sponsored COVID-19 testing has ended in San Mateo County” and that PCR and antigen tests “remain widely available through health care providers and pharmacies.” Sonoma County’s COVID-19 testing page does not offer county residents any free or low-cost testing locations or resources without insurance and instead says that you should “request a test from your health care provider or use an over-the-counter antigen test purchased at a local pharmacy.”
Always check to see how much you might be charged for a COVID-19 test at these private testing facilities before your visit. Below are some of the private providers still offering COVID-19 testing in the Bay Area:
Other pharmacies that previously offered free COVID-19 testing on-site, in a pharmacy location, have started charging for those same tests after the end of the federal emergency. Be careful to read the billing details if you are uninsured and it is marked as “free” or “no-cost.” Check the following pharmacy websites to see what’s available in your area:
As for the best time to test, if you’ve heard that incubation times for the virus are getting shorter — that is, the amount of time between getting exposed to COVID-19 and testing positive — it’s true. People are testing positive for COVID-19 more quickly than in 2020, when the average incubation period was five days because the incubation period has changed with each new variant, confirms Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF. In 2024, he says, it now makes sense to take a test as early as two days after a possible exposure if you’re experiencing symptoms.
But there’s another wrinkle: Some medical experts say they’ve noticed that at this stage of the pandemic, it’s often taking much longer for people to get a positive test result on an at-home antigen test. In other words, they’re observing that people with COVID-19 symptoms are taking an antigen test and getting a negative result — only to get a positive result on a different test several days later. This means that many people could wrongly assume they don’t have COVID-19 after that first negative test and then inadvertently spread the virus to friends and family. Read more about why your COVID-19 symptoms might be starting earlier and what to do if you initially test negative.
An earlier version of this story originally published on Sept. 28, 2023.
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