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John,
The White House announced that its program providing free COVID tests through USPS is ending this Friday, partly because Congress has not renewed funding for testing. I’m fighting to renew funding for this ongoing public health crisis, but in the meantime, you have options.
Place your order for free at-home COVID tests at https://special.usps.com/testkits. You can do so until this Friday, September 2.
Through this program, tests are available for every residential address in the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. Territories, and overseas military and diplomatic addresses. To place an order, all you need is your name and residential address. No ID, credit card, or health insurance information is required.
If you need support placing an order:
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You can call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to get help in English, Spanish, and more than 150 other languages. It’s open 8am to midnight ET, 7 days a week.
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If your address is not recognized as multi-family by USPS, you can file a service request or call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) to get the issue fixed.
You can also access free testing at over 20,000 sites across the country, including if you’re uninsured. Find a location near you at https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/community-based-testing-sites/index.html.
Check with your insurance provider about how to get reimbursed for 8 tests per month (per person on your plan), or if they will cover costs upfront. You may even be able to order free tests through your insurance plan.
In addition to wearing a well-fitted mask indoors, testing regularly is an important way to stop the spread of COVID—which means fewer chances for the virus to mutate into more variants.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends testing for COVID if you begin having symptoms or when you’re going to gather with a group of people. At-home tests are fairly accurate for several hours after you take them. However, testing negative one day doesn’t mean you’ll still be negative the next day. That’s why the HHS recommends testing 5 or 6 days after coming into close contact with someone with COVID.1
COVID is still a public health crisis—the pandemic is not over. Thousands of people are still dying each day from COVID, and millions of people are developing long COVID.
Studies show between 10% to 50% of people who get COVID will develop long COVID, which includes a variety of possible symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, breathlessness, digestive problems, muscle weakness, and more.2 About 4 million people in the U.S. are out of work due to long COVID, according to a new report using Census Bureau data.3
We need more resources for COVID and long COVID, and our federal government must require employers to give all workers paid sick leave. I’m fighting for this and more in Congress. In the meantime, please take the steps you can to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Always serving you,
Rashida
1https://www.covid.gov/tests
2https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220420/30-percent-of-covid-patients-in-study-developed-long-covid
3https://www.brookings.edu/research/new-data-shows-long-covid-is-keeping-as-many-as-4-million-people-out-of-work/
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