Delivering 749 million free COVID-19 tests

The United States Postal Service and the Department of Health and Human Services

In late 2021, a new and more infectious variant of COVID-19 made its way through the U.S. population. In response, the White House initiated an ambitious program that allowed every U.S. household to order free, at-home COVID-19 tests.

USDS collaborated with the United States Postal Service (USPS) and HHS’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to make the simple, reliable, and accessible technology required to implement this program. The combined teams deployed the USDS model of human-centered design and modern technology to build a simple website that made it quick and easy for the public to order COVID-19 tests.

The launch of COVID.gov/tests was successful, as it processed up to 10 million orders per hour. The simple website interface allowed a variety of households to use the application and the infrastructure was able to accommodate the significant order volume.

Impact

Within 48 hours, 50% of residential addresses had already ordered a COVID-19 test kit from the site.

• USPS shipped over 749 million COVID-19 test kits out to the American public.
• The site’s infrastructure was stable enough to receive more than 58 million COVID-19 test kit orders within the first 48 hours of its launch.