Having trouble ordering your free COVID-19 test kits? Try this

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — At-home COVID-19 tests are in high demand.

But for the last few weeks, it hasn’t been easy to get your hands on one.

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Between yesterday and today, hundreds-of-thousands of people have visited the new website launched by The Biden Administration: COVIDtests.gov - Free at-home COVID-19 tests.

Action News Jax Courtney Cole explains why the process has been easy for some, but others are facing some challenges placing their order.

“Trying to find the tests at this particular point in time is really difficult. And now doing this online — and running into the hurdle — is even more difficult,” said Marlena Patterson.

Patterson is one of the people who ran into a problem, trying to order her free COVID-19 tests on COVIDtests.gov.

“So when I went to the website, it was really easy at first,” Patterson explained.

Patterson e-mailed Action News Jax this morning for help, saying in part, “I went to the website to order my free home COVID test and received an error that the address had already been used and can not be used again.”

On the website, it says every home in the U.S. is eligible to order four free at-home tests.

But people who live in apartment buildings are running into problems — because in this instance, people living in an apartment building share the same physical address, with different unit numbers.

“So of course I checked it to make sure I didn’t put information where I wasn’t supposed to put it. And I filled it out exactly like the form said,” said Patterson.

The U.S. Postal Service said addresses not registered as multi-unit buildings could lead to difficulties placing orders.

They’re asking anyone experiencing issues to file a service request on their website, here or to call their help desk at 1-800-ASK-U-S-P-S.

“I’ve e-mailed them with the request, so hopefully I will hear from them – if not today, tomorrow maybe, with at least, what the plan is. If I don’t hear from them I will call the number you provided,” Patterson said.

Cole reached out reached out to the White House directly, to learn how many people have been able to successfully order tests and how that compares to the number of people who weren’t able to order their tests.

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She is still waiting to hear back.

Just before Cole’s story aired, she learned that with her help – Patterson said she was able to get in contact with USPS and order her tests today.

There is another tool that you can try while you wait to hear back from USPS too.

It’s called the “Look Up a Zip Code Tool” – it allows you to enter your street, address, city and state and find the correct format for your address: https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm.

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