Government Suspends Free At-Home COVID Testing Program

Testing remains critical for older adults who are more susceptible to severe symptoms

Rachel Nania,

Updated March 14, 2025

AARP

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Published September 03, 2024

/ Updated March 14, 2025

conducting a covid and disease test with a set and arm on a white background

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The federal government has suspended its COVID-19 test distribution program and is no longer accepting orders for free at-home test kits.

The website where people could previously place orders for up to four free tests per household says orders placed before 8:00 p.m. on March 9 will still be shipped. The website also says that rapid tests that detect COVID-19 are sold at pharmacies, grocery stores and many other retailers nationwide. Prices vary, but a pack of two at-home tests typically costs around $20.

The test distribution program began in the winter of 2022 and has run intermittently since. As of October 2024, it had distributed approximately 900 million free tests to American households.

Tests remain a key tool for older adults

Doctors and public health experts have long stressed that testing is especially important for older adults who experience a fever, cough, sore throat or other symptoms that could signal COVID-19.

Age and COVID Risk

Age remains the strongest risk factor for severe COVID outcomes. Compared with people ages 18–29 years, the risk of death is:

25 times higher in those ages 50–64
60 times higher in those ages 65–74
140 times higher in those ages 75–84 years
340 times higher in those age 85-plus

Source: CDC

The main reason is “so that they can get an antiviral as soon as possible” if the test indicates the coronavirus is to blame, explains Jodie Guest, a professor and senior vice chair in the Department of Epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

In clinical trials and real-world studies, antiviral treatments, like Paxlovid, have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in people at high risk for severe illness, a population that includes older adults.

“Antivirals interfere with the virus and decrease the level of the virus in a person’s body, and thereby decrease complications, decrease symptoms, get you better faster, and in some cases, even prevent death,” infectious disease expert Amesh Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in a recent news briefing.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says for these medications to be effective, they need to be started as soon as possible — within five to seven days of symptom onset.

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“The home tests make it a lot easier to fit that window and get the drug as quickly as possible,” Adalja said.

If the test is negative for COVID-19, a flu test might be needed. Similar to COVID, older adults are more likely to experience severe flu symptoms and may need a different antiviral medication to keep the illness from worsening. You can find combination COVID-19-influenza tests at pharmacies and retail stores.

Testing for COVID if you’re not feeling well can also help prevent the spread of the illness since it’s recommended that individuals with an infection stay away from others until they’re feeling better and their symptoms, including fever, have subsided for at least 24 hours.

Some insurance plans cover at-home COVID-19 test kits, but coverage varies. Medicare Part B covers laboratory COVID-19 tests that are ordered by a provider.

Older adults make up the majority of COVID hospitalizations

COVID-19 activity has been declining since its winter peak, but the illness is still sending people to the hospital, and the vast majority of them are older adults, CDC data shows. What’s more, older adults, along with young children, continue to account for the majority of COVID-related emergency department visits, the CDC says.

In October 2024, the CDC recommended that adults 65 and older get a second dose of the latest COVID-19 vaccine this spring — about six months after their fall shot — to strengthen a waning defense against the virus. In the past, COVID-19 activity has spiked in the summer months, which we don’t typically see with other respiratory illnesses, like flu.