As with gym membership provided my university, there is an argument to be made that nothing the government hands out is free. The gym membership wasn’t either- it was part of an activity fee that wasn’t optional. So in the strictest sense, the covid tests aren’t free. You paid for them, at least in some part, if you payed taxes.
Of course, like that activity fee, you’ve already paid it. So you might as well, if you’re interested, have some sent to you.
You can get four- that’s per household, not per person. So, if you live alone, that’s four for you. If you live with your parents, young children, and additional family members, the ratio goes down considerably.
The tests were, in theory, going to be available earlier, but they should at least start shipping via the US postal service sometime around the end of this month. Of course, no system the government implements is without flaws. This one has a few glaring ones.
The first issue had to do with the one per address. Apartment dwellers have the same physical address (or at least, mostly the same), so that became a bit problematic. We can use our PO Boxes, which, if only one household is using the PO Box will work out well enough.
It’s not going to be equal distribution, far from it. It will send proportionally more to those who have more physical addresses, or fewer people in a household. Large families and multi-generation households will receive proportionally less.
Trego's Mountain Ear 