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The Biden administration will end the delivery of free at-home COVID-19 tests on Friday amid a funding shortage and concerns of a fall surge in cases.
The U.S. Postal Service website for ordering the free tests notes that the program will be suspended on Sept. 2. The Department of Health and Human Services’s COVID.gov website placed the blame for the suspension of the program on a lack of congressional funding.
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“Ordering through this program will be suspended on Friday, September 2 because Congress hasn’t provided additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests,” a note on the COVID.gov at-home testing page said.
A senior Biden administration official told NBC News on Sunday that the nation’s COVID-19 test stockpile is being depleted by the program, and officials want to have enough tests on hand in case of a fall surge.
“If Congress provides funding, we will expeditiously resume distribution of free tests through covidtests.gov,” the official told NBC News. “Until then, we believe reserving the remaining tests for distribution later this year is the best course.”
The Biden administration has distributed about 600 million free at-home rapid tests through the program since it was launched in January 2022.
The White House had hoped to distribute as many as a billion tests through the initiative.
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COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are “leveling off from their rise over the summer,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest update. Confirmed cases of the virus were down 6.7% from the previous CDC update.
No-cost testing will continue to be available in the United States at health centers and select pharmacies, according to Covidtests.gov, and people can also be reimbursed for testing through private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.
