Free COVID tests will soon be available again by mail via COVIDtests@gov

More free COVID-19 tests will soon be available. Starting in late September, Americans once again will be able to get free virus test kits mailed to their homes — as many as four of the nasal swab tests, which can be ordered through the website COVIDtests.gov when the federal program reopens.

The date for that hasn't been announced.

Over-the-counter coronavirus at-home tests typically cost about $11, as of last year.

Though the numbers of deaths and serious infections have dropped dramatically since the coronavirus began spreading across the United States in 2020, the number of hospitalizations has started to creep up in recent weeks.

The announcement also comes as the government is urging people to get an updated COVID booster ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season. Federal regulators have just approved an updated vaccine designed to combat recent virus strains and, they hope, those that become more common this winter as well.

Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but not even one-quarter of U.S. adults got last fall’s COVID shot.

More than 1 million Americans have died from the virus.