Monday, November 18
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How To Get Free At Home COVID-19 Tests In NC

At home Rapid Antigen COVID-19 Test (Aliaksandra / Adobe Stock)
At home Rapid Antigen COVID-19 Test (Aliaksandra / Adobe Stock)

ASHEBORO N.C. – As Omicron surgers across the United States including here in Randolph County there has been a big push for testing. In North Carolina there are two options for getting free at home testing kits.

NCDHHS & LabCorp

The state’s Department of Health & Human Services has partnered with LabCorp to provide free at-home testing kits for residents of NC. LabCorp is accepting requests for a limited amount of at-home tests. Kits are shipped overnight through FedEx and comes with instructions on how to self-swap and register the kit. After swabbing, you’ll ship the kit back using the included prepaid shipping label and can view your results online, usually with 48 hours.

Federal Government Program

The Biden administration has promised to make one billion at home testing kits available to the public. While The rapid tests can provide results within 30 minutes but are are generally considered to be less accurate than PCR tests.

The tests are limited to four per residential address. Tests ship between 7 to 12 days of ordering through the United States Postal Service. No insurance cards, credit cards or I.D.s are needed to order the tests.

Right now at least, there is a limit of 4 test per household, with no option currently to order more. You are not able to choose the brand of tests but all kits are FDA authorized.

Other Options

If you need a test quickly and don’t have the time to wait for free tests to be shipped to you, insurance companies are now required to reimburse people for purchasing at-home COVID-19 tests. At home test kits must be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to qualify. Contact you insurance company for more information.

You can also use the online tools to find NO-COST Community Testing Sites or a Testing Site near you on the NCDHHS Website.

Healthcare Providers

Your healthcare provider (such as you primary doctors office) may also have testing available as well as urgent care. Officials are urging people NOT to goto the Emergency Room for testing


Rapid Antigen Tests vs PCR Tests, What’s the difference?