Illinois Valley Times

State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) is reminding her constituents that free COVID-19 test kits are available from the government.

“Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of four free at-home tests from USPS.com,” Rezin posted on Facebook.

The senator said that each residential address in the country is limited to one order, which includes four individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests.

As of this writing, most kits have been shipped.

According to the website COVIDtests.gov, the free tests will arrive between seven to 12 days.

The website itself launched a beta phase and was operating in a limited capacity in early January, a White House spokesperson told NBC News.

At least 400 million tests for distribution have been secured by the federal government through COVIDtests.gov and the number of orders could increase to 1 billion tests in the coming weeks.

NBC News reported that the tests are FDA approved and are capable of detecting the omicron variant.

Residents who don’t receive their shipments are urged to contact the USPS.

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Jan. 28 announced that residents in 14 counties are eligible to receive at-home, rapid COVID tests free of charge from the agency.

NBC Chicago reported that IDPH made 225,000 test kits available through Project Access COVID Tests.

According to the department, the tests “are available on a first-come-first-served basis.”

The station reported that the tests have been earmarked for Cook, DuPage, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Kankakee, Lake, Macon, Madison, Marion, Peoria, St. Clair, Will, and Winnebago counties.

IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a statement that testing is essential toward slowing the spread of the virus.

“With readily available at-home testing, individuals can find out very quickly if they are positive and take action to isolate for five days while alerting those with whom they had close contact that they should also test,” Ezike said, according to NBC Chicago. “Readily available tests can help us chart a course for the new normal and help us learn how to coexist with COVID-19.”