US households: Did you order your four free Covid tests yet (December 2022)?

I picked up a bunch for free at my pharmacy last week but I’m on Medicare so that’s a little different.

They just approved the initiative yesterday – I doubt that distribution has started the next day.

I still have mine from the first time around.

Yes – I just did. I would like to also order for my parents (with their permission, of course) to make sure that we have enough tests for everyone to take before we get together over the winter holidays.

We managed Thanksgiving well and even though my oldest in college came down with COVID after leaving my house (probably got it at school just before coming), no one else got sick. I have high-efficiency air purifiers in all common areas and left windows/doors open so I think that likely helped.

I have long COVID and one of my kids might also. In addition, like many kids, he has been sick for many weeks from circulating viruses. Just goes to show that one kid in a class with an N95 mask can’t protect themselves. But our chronic “unwell-ness” is why we take extra precautions about being around others. We also get rapid antigen tests from the local pharmacy using our insurance benefits, but use them to regularly test the kiddos.

Thanks for the heads up!

@janbb They said on the news four per household, and there’s no insurance information required so I don’t think it has anything to do with Medicare. There was nothing mentioned about people being on Medicare and not being eligible. It’s “four per household, for every household in the United States.”

@elbanditoroso: I put the order in yesterday and the email states: ” Your package of COVID-19 tests will ship starting the week of December 19, 2022. Once your package ships, you’ll receive a tracking number and updates on the expected delivery date.” I realize they may not ship on Monday but they’re going to ship asap.

@janbb Cut and pasted from the site: Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of #4 free at-home tests from USPS.com. Here’s what you need to know about your order:

Limit of one order per residential address
One order includes #4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests (COVID.gov/tests has more details about at-home tests, including extended shelf life and updated expiration dates)
Orders will ship free starting the week of December 19, 2022

@jca2 That’s fine, thanks. I understand that. I’m just saying I’m still getting them free via Medicare so I don’t need to order those.

ok gotcha, @janbb.

I am thinking the school will give out free ones as well. I know from last time that I have to test at least twice (as everyone needs to) so with the two of us, we’ll take whatever is offered to us.

Just did. Thanks for the question @jca2!

Planning on doing it.

I still say someone needs to create a way to use them before they expire. Like a place in a community to offer them if someone needs one right around the expiration date. Maybe at a school.

Did anyone on the thread mention they extended the expiration dates for the previous tests. Many are extended to a shelf life of 15 months, some are even 21 months. Here’s the link.

Scroll down to the photos of the test boxes, find your test brand and it will link you to the expiration info.

Just my opinion, I haven’t read any science about it, but if the control line is working in the test, I think it’s pretty safe to say the test is still good.

@JLeslie It reminds me of medicaitons, where the experts have always said “throw out the expired medications in your medicine cabinets” and my friends who are doctors and nurses say “the medications may lose a little efficacy but they will still work.” I keep old aspirin and over the counter pain medications, maybe ten years. They work fine.

I still have 3 in my junk drawer from the last time I went to the doc.

I mean, if this is what the govt is doing for me, color me unimpressed. Home covid tests aren’t that egregiously expensive. Sure, for many people every dollar counts, and I think broader testing is one of the things we should have done better in 2020. The govt’s sabotaging of testing was a HUUUGE part of what went wrong. If you don’t know what I mean, the CDC and the FDA actively worked to limit testing.

The CDC didn’t want to use the WHO test because it wanted it’s test to become the standard,,,and then contaminated it, further delaying testing by weeks. And the FDA because it wouldn’t authorize academic labs to do testing despite them pointing out that they had the equipment and personnel to do it and were willing to retask if they could get permission. The FDA said ‘go f—- yourselves’. Repeatedly. Right when all the authorized labs were crushed by backlog.

But now, covid tests are far more available, and not all that expensive unless you’re testing daily or weekly (at which does 4 tests make a difference? Not really).. And now I’m supposed to praise the government for buying them up and shipping them for free? Not impressed.

@jca2 Expiration dates mean they can sell more. Some drugs it really matters if they are the right dose and that they work well, but others not so much.

Oh yes and thanks for the “heads-up” for those that may not have known. :)

Does anyone know if these will indicate if you’ve had covid in the past? or only if you have it when tested?

^^ Only if you currently have Covid.

ok, thanks

Yes, immediately. Even though I had just paid for five of them on Amazon.

I note that the details included a reminder not to use them cold but to let them sit at room temperature for at least two hours first. Not much help if you’re hunkered down in a tent in a homeless camp and it’s 35 degrees outside, and sickness is sweeping through the camp.

@smudges, they do have antibody tests to see if you’ve already had it, but it seems kind of pointless to me because you can still get it again.

I’m concerned about the fact that all those home-test positives aren’t getting reported to health agencies.

@Jeruba When my parents were sick with “just a cold” I pushed them to test for covid. Pushed is a nice way of saying that I berated them. They kept saying, “we aren’t going to do anything different if it’s covid.”

Background: my parents have been practically isolated since the start of covid. My dad double masks at the doctor and stores, he only meets friends outside, he has been very afraid of covid.

The reason I pushed them was because I thought my dad’s intense fear of the virus would diminish if he knew it was “just a cold” for him. That’s why I think knowing you had or have covid is helpful.

Finally, they gave in and they did the covid test, my mom first, it was her second or third day with her “cold.” Results: positive! Then my dad tested, his fourth or fifth day, positive!

Side note: five days might still be contagious if my dad was still coming up positive, which would agree with what Dr. Birx has said, the five day rule isn’t really good enough. People should wait for a negative test before feeling in the clear.

It took me 10 days before I tested negative after my Covid infection.

@RocketGuy That’s exactly what I am talking about. To clarify, 10 days after you already felt better, or 10 days from when you started feeling sick?

10 days after symptoms first appeared. 7 days still positive per quick Covid test. Fitbit showed that my resting heart rate was almost down to normal at the 10 day mark too.

@RocketGuy I think the antigen test is the one that counts for probably still being contagious.