U.S. to offer free at-home COVID-19 tests starting in September

With COVID-19 cases rising, the U.S. government will soon make free tests available to the public.

CBS News reports the Biden administration announced Friday that COVIDtests.gov will reopen in late September. This announcement comes as COVID rates are increasing because of new highly contagious variants and new vaccines that better match the circulating strains of the virus were approved.

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Through this federal program, U.S. households can order up to four free COVID-19 nasal swab tests that will be delivered through the mail. An exact date for when tests can be ordered has not yet been announced.

Since this program began in 2021, more than 900 million tests have been distributed to households nationwide. CBS News reports that another 900 million at-home tests were distributed through community-based access points.

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