Error Leaves Some People Unable To Order Covid Tests From White House’s New Website

The soft launch of COVIDtests.gov, which offers one free set of four Covid-19 tests by mail per household, was hampered by a bug that prevented some residents of apartment buildings from ordering the tests.

A negative result is shown in a photo illustration of a home test kit.

Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket.

The feature meant to prevent duplicate orders to the same household mistakenly rejected some orders from multi-unit dwellings.

The postal service said that the problem is limited and can be addressed by filling out an online service inquiry.

Some people have found a way to circumvent the USPS by looking up their address.

Some people suggested entering apartment numbers under the field designated for street addresses rather than under the field designated for apartment numbers.

The White House said that tests will be shipped via USPS seven to 12 days after ordering.

The Vaccines.gov hotline can be reached at 1-800-232-0233 to order free tests.

One day ahead of its official launch date, COVIDtests.gov went online Tuesday. The site will be limited to a limited capacity until mid-morning Wednesday, according to the White House press secretary. At some points on Tuesday, as many as 750,000 users were using COVIDtests.gov at the same time. Legislators and health experts have criticized the Biden Administration for not adequately addressing the limited supply of tests that has led to inventory shortages at Amazon, Walmart and other retailers. In response to the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant, which has driven up infections and deaths worldwide, the White House announced mass distribution of free tests and higher-quality masks.

The number is big.

1 billion. The Biden Administration has ordered a lot of test kits. 500 million are available for distribution.

The quote is crucial.

There are quirks with apartment addresses, but surely the loudest and most aggressive contingent of people on twitter aren't living in multi-unit residences in large cities, right? The reporter for Buzzfeed joked on the social networking site.

The White House soft-launched the COVID-19 test request website.

The White House plans to order 500 million additional Covid-19 tests.