United States President Joe Biden's administration quietly launched its website where American citizens can sign up and apply for free COVID-19 at-home test kits that will allow residents to order a maximum of four tests that will be shipped directly to their household.
While the launch of the website, which is a day earlier than scheduled, marks an eventful moment in the United States, technical issues have surfaced where some Americans are having difficulties ordering the test kits.
Free At-Home Test Kits
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that the federal government website where people can order free test kits was up and running as part of a "beta phase." The situation comes ahead of the government's formal rollout on Wednesday morning.
During a news briefing at the White House, Psaki told reporters that COVIDtests.gov was already in its beta phase. She noted that the process was a standard part of the process typically as it's being kind of tested in the early stages of being rolled out, CNN reported.
Additionally, some Americans who are living in apartments and other multi-unit residences are facing problems when ordering the test kits. Residents who lived in multi-unit dwellings tried to register but instead received error messages saying that there have already been tests ordered for their address.
One administration official said that the issue was not widespread and that orders of test kits for people in areas facing disproportionate COVID-19 cases and deaths were being prioritized. They said that the first 20% of test orders processed will be for people in vulnerable ZIP codes.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the process would help ensure that the people who were in dire need of the tests receive them as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the U.S. Postal Service said that the problem lies from buildings not being registered as multi-unit complexes and affected only a "small percentage of orders," Politico reported.
Problem With The Website
The Postal Service said that Americans having the issue should file a service request at this link or call the help desk at 1-800-ASK-USPS. During the briefing on Tuesday, Psaki said that every website launch, in the government's view, always came with a risk. She acknowledged that there would be a problem or two in the process.
However, the White House press secretary said that the best tech teams across the administration and the Postal Service were already working on the issue to make the website a success. The federal government launched the site after widespread public outcry over testing shortages amid the busy holiday travel season.
Pharmacies, large and small, all struggled to keep at-home test kits in stock as demand continued to surge amid the Omicron variant's surge. Biden said that the federal government was in the process of procuring a total of one billion at-home tests to distribute to the American people for free. The Defense Department on the other hand is awarding contracts for the tests in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, CNBC reported.
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