An antigen test to detect COVID-19 for self-testing is on a red FFP-2 mask. (Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images)
You can once again order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government through the United States Postal Service (USPS) at covidtests.gov.
The White House program reopened Thursday in the wake of a nationwide surge in COVID-19 infections this summer. Keep reading for how to order your four new tests, or jump straight to how you can:
After a summer surge that saw COVID-19 infections soar nationwide, levels in the Bay Area have fallen, says Amanda Bidwell at Stanford University’s WastewaterSCAN team, which monitors viral levels in human sewage locally.
A snapshot of the levels of COVID-19 detected in Bay Area wastewater as of Sept. 24. (WastewaterSCAN, Stanford University)
WastewaterSCAN’s Bidwell says her team is already watching for signs of a rise in COVID-19 levels in Bay Area wastewater heading into the fall/winter respiratory virus season, which last year began in late October.
All of this means having extra COVID-19 antigen tests in your household over the next few months could be a good idea, to help you swiftly identify any infection, and know when to isolate from others. But in Year 5 of COVID-19, if you’ve been finding it increasingly hard to find a low-cost antigen 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 latest USPS test kits.
Order free at-home COVID tests from the US government via USPS
At covidtests.gov and 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, but check the FDA’s full list of expiration date extensions first to be sure.
COVID-19 testing has changed hugely over the course of the pandemic. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
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.
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 last year, depending on the provider.
Since so many vaccination sites closed in 2023 with the end of the COVID-19 federal 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.”
Find a COVID test through private providers
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:
Walgreens offers PCR tests to take home and mail in, with results in about two days. If you have insurance, the pharmacist will confirm whether you can bill your test to your insurer. Walgreens says that uninsured people who meet federal eligibility criteria “may qualify for no cost testing.” Be sure to ask questions about cost and billing before taking your test at a pharmacy to make sure you won’t get hit with an unexpected bill.
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:
Many Bay Area school districts have offered COVID-19 testing for students and staff — and sometimes the families of students — during the pandemic, and some may have continued their programs into this school year.
Check directly with your child’s school.
A reminder on when to test for COVID
Regardless of your vaccination status, if you’re experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, you should get tested.
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 start earlier and what to do if you initially test negative.
According to the CDC, you should isolate from other people for as long as you’re experiencing COVID-19 symptoms that aren’t improving. Once your symptoms start improving, and any fever you’ve had has been gone for 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medication, the CDC says that you can exit isolation.
But you’ll need both of these things — symptoms improving for at least 24 hours and the absence of fever for at least 24 hours — to happen before you can leave isolation. So if your fever has been gone more than a day but your other symptoms haven’t improved, you still need to keep isolating until they do improve, the CDC says. And if your other symptoms get better but you get a new fever, you need to keep isolating (or go back into isolation) until that fever has been gone for 24 hours.
