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Households Can Sign Up For Free COVID-19 Tests

The Biden administration’s effort to distribute free COVID-19 tests nationwide was supposed to start Wednesday, but the government began taking orders on Tuesday.
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COVID-19 TESTS./HANNAH NORMAN/KAISER HEALTH NEWS
January 20, 2022

The Biden administration’s effort to distribute free Covid-19 tests nationwide was supposed to start Wednesday. Instead, the government quietly began taking orders on Tuesday.

The administration said that every very household can obtain four free rapid antigen tests by going to CovidTests.gov and clicking through to a U.S. Postal Service site signup sheet and filling out the short form, which only asks for a name and address.

The tests are limited to four per household. Not all residents can get them, at least for the moment. Chas Hundley, publisher and editor of the Banks Post and Gales Creek Journal, told the Capital Chronicle that his address was rejected by the site. It said that his address was a business — not a residence.  He uses the same address where he and his wife live in rural Washington County near the Tillamook County border for his home and his businesses, which include a convenience store and community hall. 

He said some of his neighbors who don’t have a current business at their address were able to sign up.

“It only seems to be affecting rural commercial properties with active businesses there,” Hundley said. “It’s a very small group of people.”

Many small farmers also use their home address for their farm.

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

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