US Postal Service begins shipping free COVID tests

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the U.S. Postal Service's initiative to ship free at-home COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to American households. Participants share their experiences with ordering the tests and express opinions on the timing and potential impact of the initiative.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes that the website covidtests.gov is available for ordering free at-home tests and mentions the expected shipping timeline.
  • Another participant reports that the site was already taking orders prior to the official launch date.
  • Several participants confirm their own orders for the tests, indicating a positive reception to the initiative.
  • There is a concern expressed about the timing of the test arrivals, with one participant suggesting that they may not be useful during the peak of the Omicron wave.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the availability of the tests and share their personal experiences with ordering. However, there is some uncertainty regarding the timing of the tests' arrival and their effectiveness during the current wave of COVID-19.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express hope that the Omicron wave will be declining by the time the tests arrive, indicating a reliance on the timing of the pandemic's progression.

Ygggdrasil
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Just an FYI to the American users of the forum: you can go to covidtests.gov to order free at-home rapid antigen tests.

The U.S. Postal Service has begun taking orders for free at-home Coronavirus test kits.

The website COVIDtests.gov was originally slated to begin taking orders on Wednesday. White House press secretary Jen Psaki says the site is in the "beta testing" stage and "will be launched formally tomorrow morning [Wednesday]."

Each household order will contain four rapid tests, which the Postal Service says will be shipped for free "in late January."
(source: NPR)

Unfortunately, the tests will likely arrive after the peak of the Omicron wave (or at least I hope Omicron is on the decline by the time the tests start arriving), so they may not make much of an impact on the current wave, but they should still be very useful for everyone going forward.
 
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The site was actually taking orders yesterday and my wife ordered them.
 
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I just ordered mine right before making this post :)
 
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I placed an order, thanks!
 
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