Alicia Dye | staff writer
Jan. 27, 2022
Students who live on campus have had issues ordering the free Covid tests to their campus address.
On January 14, 2021, the Biden Administration announced that they would be purchasing one billion at home Covid-19 tests that Americans could order for free, and get shipped to their homes. Half a billion of these tests were available starting on January 19, but many have reported having issues with ordering tests, including Duquesne Students.
Students who have tried to order the tests and type in their campus address receive a message that says “At-home COVID-19 tests have already been ordered for this address.”
Many students are frustrated and upset about the error.
“I want the tests just in case. A lot of students don’t wear their masks, and I’m worried about catching it,” said Rihyun Kim, a graduate student here at the university.
Cases of Covid-19 have been on the rise here at the university, as well as in the city of Pittsburgh. Duquesne has had a seven day average of 10 student cases, as of January 26, according to the university Covid-19 dashboard. Allegheny County has had a seven day average of 2,039, according to the official dashboard.
“As someone who is immunocompromised, I want to have the tests on hand so I can take all the precautions I need to,” said Jacob Easly, a Duquesne Towers resident. “Getting tested on and off campus is extremely difficult, so these tests would help.”
“All students can get tested by health services if they are symptomatic,”said Health Services Director, Joy L. Dougherty. “Additional testing strategies for asymptomatic students are currently being developed, more details are coming soon.”
Health Services, where students can get tested for Covid if they need to
While test availability is at an all time low, Duquesne students have no need to worry. “We placed a very large order, and we have more than enough for the semester and beyond,” said Dougherty.
Students can go to https://www.covidtests.gov/ to order tests. The site will redirect students to the USPS site, where they can attempt to order tests and file a service request if needed.
Duquesne Mailing Services, where students would be able to pick up the free Covid tests.
Students can submit a request to USPS about receiving the Covid-19 tests although the response time can range from one to seven days, or even more, as USPS is receiving a large amount of requests. Students can also call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) to help with ordering a covid test.
Students should not call local USPS offices, as they only redirect students to the hotline to submit a request.
At the time of writing, it remains unknown if students will be able to get the Covid tests shipped to campus.
