Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests Available For Tuscaloosa Residents

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The federal government is providing free at-home COVID-19 rapid antigen tests for Tuscaloosa County residents, following the launch of its new website, covidtests.gov, to help ease a nationwide shortage of the tests.

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Each household is eligible to receive four free at-home tests, which can be ordered here.

As Patch previously reported, the federal government bought 500 million COVID-19 rapid tests in December in response to criticism over a low inventory of at-home tests and long lines at testing sites.

President Joe Biden then announced last week that he's ordering another 500 million tests, bringing the total to 1 billion. The tests will begin shipping in late January.

When ordering a test, American citizens are only required to provide names and addresses. There is no insurance or credit card information required to receive the tests and no shipping fees.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out that the tests can be taken anywhere and provide results with 30 minutes. There is no lab drop-off required for the at-home tests.

The CDC also says the tests work regardless of symptoms or vaccination status.

The Alabama Department of Public Health, in its latest dashboard update, reported 2,649 total COVID-19 cases confirmed for Tuscaloosa County over the last week.

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