Here’s how to get another free round of COVID-19 home tests

Households can stock up on free COVID-19 tests again.

As of Thursday, the U.S. government’s website that lets users request free COVID-19 at-home tests was live for a new wave of orders after a three-month hiatus. The website update comes on the heels of President Joe Biden’s announcement Thursday that his administration was restarting its COVID-19 home test program as part of a “winter preparedness plan.” The program relaunch comes amid the winter season, which has seen a rise in reported COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the last two weeks. Philadelphia’s coronavirus case count has increased 33% in that time.

Anxiety has been brewing over a potential winter surge and how it could coincide with flu season and the common children’s respiratory virus RSV. Medical experts have informally deemed the potential phenomenon the “tripledemic” and worry about its impact on hospital resources. According to Yale Medicine, all three viruses are present but aren’t peaking at the same time.

The Biden administration’s winter preparedness plan includes households being able to request at-home tests and an expansion on who is able to dispense COVID-19 vaccines that will include nursing home staff, the New York Times reported.

Households can request four at-home tests by following these steps:

According to the Biden administration, tests will begin shipping next week.