The U.S. Postal Service is preparing to deliver as many as 500 million at-home Covid-19 tests to Americans by the end of the month.
Last week, the Biden Administration announced both a website and phone line to order four free rapid tests per household.
Among the top concerns for on-time deliveries are workforce quarantines for USPS workers.
USPS officials said they have hired thousands of additional staff in addition to the 650,000 full-time postal workers to help take on the task.
More than 40 facilities have also been converted to deal exclusively with the shipping of tests.
Included in the rollout of tests is a new I-T software that will be used to process deliveries of tests.
USPS officials said they plan to deliver as many as eight million tests per day.
During the holiday season, USPS officials said the postal service delivered 13.2 billion pieces of mail with an average delivery time of under three days.
They said the hiring of extra staff and implementing new operational strategies should yield similar results for the delivery of the at-home Covid-19 tests.
"The United State Postal Service is proud to fulfill its mission of service to the nation by delivering Covid test kits as part of this important public health initiative of the Biden Administration," said Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General. "The 650,000 women and men of the United States Postal Service are ready to deliver and proud to play a critical role in supporting the health needs of the American public. We have been working closely with the Administration and are well prepared to accept and deliver test kits on the first day of the program launches."
Residents wishing to order testscan visit covidtests.gov.
