How to order 4 free, at-home COVID tests right now

Each household in the United States can now order four free, at-home COVID-19 tests from the government.

The federal government said last week it would provide 500 million at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests. It soft-launched launched its website on Tuesday at covidtests.gov. The tests are free and are limited to one order per household.

What is the website to order the tests?

Go to https://special.usps.com/testkits

When can you expect to receive the tests?

The U.S. Postal Service will ship the tests starting in late January. They are not expected to arrive at your doorstep until the end of the month at the earliest.

What kind of tests are they?

The tests are individual, rapid antigen tests.

The test orders come at a time when Illinois appears to be seeing a slowdown in case growth, and hospitalizations are already coming off of their all-time pandemic highs. Pop-up COVID-19 testing sites have come under scrutiny, and one company — Center for COVID Control — with sites in Kane, McHenry, DuPage, Lake, DeKalb and Cook counties has temporarily shut them down, officials said in multiple news releases.