Originally published at: Biden to announce free at-home Covid tests | Boing Boing
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Still too long. Should have been implemented at least a year ago. With extras sent to every shelter
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Should have, but there was an orange dumpster fire still occupying the White House a year ago. Everything that did or did not happen in 2020 is, and forever will be, Mango Mussolini’s fault.
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This is definitely a good idea and it would have been great if they’d done it a long time ago. I just wonder if it will make any significant difference in the current Omicron wave. (To be clear, it’s worth doing even if it only makes a modest difference) This variant burns through populations so quickly that the peak may already be past by the time people receive tests. The case loads in some parts of South Africa appear to have already peaked just three weeks after the variant was identified.
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This is true. It felt like forever suffering thru him and I keep forgetting Biden’s swearing in wasn’t even a year ago just yet.
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Good. Maybe then less fortunate folks can get them now.
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And he was not only failing to deliver at-home tests but was actively and vocally trying to stop what testing was taking place just because the numbers made him look bad.
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Oh the tyranny, I can see my freedums all going away. /s
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It’s a slippery slope!
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We ran out and bought some at-home tests when the “reimbursement” plan was vaguely announced, only to find out later you could only get reimbursed if you submitted your paperwork and evidence that a health care professional had prescribed a test. It was such a joke, and would have been so expensive to actually administer. It would’ve been nice to have gotten a classic Psaki zinger about how means-testing is more wasteful than no-questions-asked distribution, but it’s too late for that now, she used up her zing on the opposite…
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It is so ridiculous that this wasn’t done long ago. Send tests, send PPE, send whatever to everyone. Buy it in massive bulk and make it free to anyone who wants it.
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we already have free at home testing in NJ, but its a test type that requires sample return to lab.
That said, Americans need to cancel holiday plans. Just don’t be fucking stupid.
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I think it would be better if the test were distributed to local county health departments and then distributed even more locally where you could get a test from a local city hall or fire department, etc…
If I have to request a test and then wait for it to be mailed it will be too late to be of use. If I request in advance it would be good to have on hand to be ready but… I can see my local Facebook group already, ordering free tests and them making videos destroying them or using them and claiming they don’t work or whatever else they can come up with to further their death cults.
We have four 2 pack tests on hand just in case. We have a nephew, in the Chicago area, he takes this seriously but his co workers do not. He was told 4 people at his job have covid. He has to wait a day to get tested. That’s a good example of having a test kit on hand.
It won’t help him now but I did send him 3 kits to have on hand so he won’t be so anxious next time.
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I’ve got some good news and some bad news if you think the pandemic will be over before you get a chance to use those tests…
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I get that, I’m saying if someone has symptoms or suspects they were exposed that is not the time to order one. The time to order one is before you need it. Or make them readily available locally.
We had a serious high water flooding problem the last two years by us. All the local fire departments or town halls had large supplies of free sand bags and free sand to fill them. Most community members would help their neighbors fill and stack them.
That’s what should be happening with these tests. Make it well known where they are available for free and each local community could have a way to get them to someone if they can’t get out and even help them administrator the test.
This doesn’t end until we all work together.
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The entire rest of the developed world has them and we still have Omicron transmission. But it should dampen the curve a bit, yeah.
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Making the tests available through multiple channels sounds like a fine idea, but the beauty of using the post office is that
- We already have the infrastructure to distribute tests to virtually everyone in the country this way without having to build out a huge new bureaucracy to get the job done
- This method requires the least amount of effort from the people getting tested, which is one of the biggest factors driving participation
- This is the best way to maintain social distancing for testing
But maybe not physically together when we can avoid it.
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I went to two pharmacies looking for home tests and all were out - and told me none of their stores had any left.
Not good in the midst of a super-spreading variant.
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I don’t know where you’re located but I was just helping a freind find a couple tests. All the major pharmacies have a way to search for the test and see which locations have them. There’s no guarantee once you get there they will be in stock but it did help.
I ended up ordering the iHealth ones from Amazon for my nephew. They won’t arrive until January 6th but they are available.
This article helped a lot explaining which tests are available and where you might find them.
A good start, hopefully they’ll build on it. 1.5 tests per person seems a little light to call this done.
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