At-Home COVID-19 Testing Website Begins Free Ordering

Starting Wednesday, Americans can start ordering free at home COVID-19 tests through a new government website.

The website to order the free tests is known as COVIDtests.gov.

Before you sign up for one, here is what you need to know.

The at-home tests are rapid tests that will be shipped out in the next two weeks.

You will need to give the website your name and address, but no credit card is needed to receive this test.

The limit is four per household at this time.

It's unclear what brand of at-home test will be sent out, but all the brands on the market have emergency-use authorization from the FDA.

The White House said they will prioritize shipments to Americans from zip codes that have experienced high rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Oklahoma has a seven-day average of over 10 thousand cases a day.

If you cannot access the test ordering online, there will be a phone number to place orders.

Many videos have circulated that show these at-home tests to be inaccurate, but health officials here in the state said they can detect the omicron variant, you just need to be mindful of following the instructions.

"Make sure you follow the directions completely because if you do not follow them in the correct order, you may end up having a false negative and have confidence that you are not infectious," said Mary Clarke, M.D., the President of the Oklahoma State Medical Association.

 If you test positive when testing at home, health leaders in the state ask you to get a PCR or rapid test from a testing location to confirm this result.