The U.S. government wants you to have COVID-19 tests at the ready – and you can get them for free.

The feds will send eight rapid antigen tests to any address in the country that requests them. Go to covid.gov/tests, put in your name and address, and hit the “Check Out Now” button. It takes a couple of minutes tops.

You may have taken advantage of the two earlier rounds of free tests from the government and still have them. They’re almost certainly still good, but they do eventually expire. You also might need to use quite a few tests if you or other members of your household (or social circle) are infected with the virus, so it’s a good idea to jump on this third offer as well.

It may feel like the pandemic is over (especially if you’re vaccinated), but it’s not. New, tricky subvariants continue to pop up, and coronavirus cases in the U.S. are on the rise again.

We’re all getting back to normal life, but normal – at least for the foreseeable future – likely means occasionally breaking open a COVID-19 test.

— Douglas Perry

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