The Washington Post provides here a summary of COVID tests, along with online links where you can buy at-home tests. (The at-home tests are expensive.) The story apparently is not behind a paywall.

Categories Education Reform

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Bob Shepherd says:

January 4, 2022 at 11:13 am

I just checked the CVS website. At-home Covid-19 test kits ranged from $9.99 to $124.99. A bizarre range of prices.

All were out of stock.

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- retired teacher says:
  
  January 4, 2022 at 12:10 pm
  
  Pandemic profiteering is at an all time high. We certainly have real supply chain problems, but some of the inflation in meat prices and gasoline may be due to those taking advantage of a crisis.
  
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 12:50 pm
    
    May?
    
    If that $125 price is any indication, I’d say someone definitely has taken advantage of the crisis.
    
    Tooth, Justus and the American Way.
    
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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 5, 2022 at 7:39 am
  
  The “wonders of markets ” (TM) are poorly suited for dealing with a pandemic.
  
  A perfect illustration of this is how test maker Abbott destroyed their inventory last August and shut down production at their factory because infections and sales of test kits had been lagging last spring.
  
  Abbott gave the rationale for their actions,: “It’s all about money”
  
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GregB says:

January 4, 2022 at 11:51 am

[spoiler alert] With all its flaws, I support the Biden administration.

This is one issue the current administration really got wrong. There’s no excuse. We should by now have free testing available easily, everywhere and they’ve had almost a year to get this right. You can get tested for free (if you are a citizen) just about anywhere in urban Europe and most countries have concerted outreach to rural and densely populated areas. Heads should roll and a time-sensitive task force of experts should develop a plan in the next 7-10 days that can start to be implemented when it is made public. Biden should demand an emergency appropriation and get political if he doesn’t get it.

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- dienne77 says:
  
  January 4, 2022 at 12:03 pm
  
  Do you remember Jen Psaki’s sneering response to a question about COVID tests? “Are we just supposed to send free tests to everyone?” Despite claiming they had a plan, this administration has never taken COVID any more seriously than the previous administration. All along it’s just been the same push to re-open the country that most people on this blog were screaming about when Trump was the one pushing.
  
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  - NYC public school parent says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 12:16 pm
    
    “Despite claiming they had a plan, this administration has never taken COVID any more seriously than the previous administration.”
    
    Despite claiming she is a progressive, this person has always been more worshipful of Donald Trump than any Fox News sycophant.
    
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  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 2:39 pm
    
    this administration has never taken COVID any more seriously than the previous administration
    
    I’m sorry, but that’s utter $$@**$@*&!!!
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 5, 2022 at 10:29 am
    
    Kudos on appropriating language applied to you and projecting it onto others. You learn well from your authoritarian masters. And since we’re on it, would this Psaki response that backs Bob eloquence be considered sneering?
    https://crooksandliars.com/2022/01/jenn-psaki-smacks-down-reporter-s-gotcha
    
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- NYC public school parent says:
  
  January 4, 2022 at 12:28 pm
  
  GregB,
  
  There is a lot of testing in the US. You can be tested for free. The problem is that labs can’t read tests fast enough.
  
  And those home tests are nice but not exactly reliable.
  
  The Biden administration correctly made the focus vaccines and mask wearing when the testing sites were sitting empty in November.
  
  I really find the idea that sending everyone home tests is going to make a difference to be ridiculous. The people who don’t care about vaccines and masks don’t care. They will spread it.
  
  The crisis is not because people haven’t been tested. It is because of the Americans who won’t get vaccinated, wear masks, or practice social distancing.
  
  Take a look at how many hospital workers who get tested all the time learn they are infected after they have already spread the virus?
  
  Testing is good. But this crisis isn’t about lack of testing — it is about unvaccinated people and people not masking up.
  
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 12:43 pm
    
    I agree 100%. Lack of vaccinations is the issue. Everything else is a side show. Oh, and if you aren’t scared enough, wait for m-m-m-my flurona!
    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/01/03/first-flurona-flu-COVID-double-infection/2041641252964/
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 5, 2022 at 11:05 am
    
    When flurona hits Fluronida, I suspect all hell will break loose.
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 5, 2022 at 11:06 am
    
    Or” Floria”, to save on typing.
    
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- Bob Shepherd says:
  
  January 4, 2022 at 2:38 pm
  
  Until recently, you could get a shot or a test at any Walgreens in Floria. This was a federal initiative. But now the demand is high and these services are overwhelmed.
  
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  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 2:40 pm
    
    cx: Florida
    
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  - NYC public school parent says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 3:17 pm
    
    Yes, because the new covid spreads like wildfire. Even among the vaccinated. The Biden administration was focusing on getting people vaccinated and boostered when covid rates were low, not on hugely expanding testing.
    
    We have some home tests, but in my opinion, it would be greatly irresponsible of me to have mild cold symptoms, take a home covid test, and decide I was fine because it was negative so I could go out to a big gathering, no problem. All that testing is also giving a lot of people a false sense of security.
    
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  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 3:21 pm
    
    Great points, NYC PSP!
    
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  - NYC public school parent says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 3:20 pm
    
    ^^ I know so many people who tested negative on a number of tests before testing positive, especially with the current version of COVID. By the time they tested positive, they likely weren’t even contagious anymore! I guess their contacts could start testing, but then it’s the same problem, with some of them testing negative until they don’t.
    
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Bob Shepherd says:

January 4, 2022 at 3:54 pm

There is a fatal flaw at the heart of American democracy. The founders could not imagine universal suffrage combined with a mass consumer culture idiocracy. People here will vote for a leader because he is a famous star in western movies, body builder and action film star, or host of a “reality show” on TV about being a businessperson.

I recently watched on Youtube a discussion by Putin, with simultaneous translation, of recombinant DNA technology. His comments were deeply informed. I thought, there is not a Republican leader in the U.S., that I know of, who could do that. Instead, we have the likes of Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

It doesn’t have to be this way in a democracy. Angela Merkel has a PhD and a stack of published academic papers in quantum chemistry.

I have this picture in my head of Putin talking to cronies: “I know,” he says, “let’s give them that idiot Trump.” Well, his investment paid off. Millions of Americans think that science is fake news. Political scientists are now saying that we are well past the incipient revolution stage in the U.S.

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 4, 2022 at 5:07 pm
  
  Does Angela Merkel do quantum alignments?
  
  Mine is out of whack.
  
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 5:09 pm
    
    Or as a quantum chemist , maybe she’s more into the quantum nutrition.
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 5:22 pm
    
    People are saying she likes quark(s).
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 5:47 pm
    
    If she does quantum alignments or is into quantum dietary supplements, I’d say she is a quark.
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 6:13 pm
    
    Quantum Quacks
    
    The quantum quacks
    With quantum quarks
    Are quantum hacks
    And quants, of course
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 7:01 pm
    
    Quantum Chiropractic
    
    My quantum back
    Is out of whack
    And quantum quack
    Is what I lack
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 7:13 pm
    
    Drats, I was hoping you’d figure out how to work in German definition of quark. Quark and quarks are two different things!
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 7:37 pm
    
    Was not familiar with Quark.
    
    But it doesn’t look quantum.
    
    It looks continuous.
    
    So I can’t do anything with it – except eat it.
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 4, 2022 at 8:53 pm
    
    I’ve solved the mystery. SDP is Weird Al Yankovic! “Eat it” gave it away.
    
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Joel Herman says:

January 4, 2022 at 4:33 pm

So let me see if I get this right. Only 62% of the Nation is fully vaccinated 9 months after vaccinations became easily obtainable. Further only 21% have chosen to get a booster 3 1/2 months after they were approved for adults.

You are dealing with a Virus that now has an R factor of 3-5 infections per infected individual . Do you really think that the unvaccinated or those who ignored the pleas to take a booster are going to isolate unless they are ready to drop dead. What statistical effect would more tests have with a reproduction rate that high. Almost as successful as the Travel ban from China when the virus was in the EU for weeks or from South Africa when the Variant was here and in Europe.

The number of tests available is more than adequate to insure Public health. Testing symptomatic patients to enable treatment and random public testing of asymptomatic persons to find hot spots. Of course once you found them that would have to be followed by public health measures from mask mandates to shut downs and lock downs. Good luck with that .

With a far less transmissible alpha variant not even the testing at the White House was able to keep the “Germ-a-phobe” from getting Covid. A shame he didn’t drop dead. But a negative antigen test in the morning means little by the afternoon when 1 person is able to
infect 5 others on average. Possibly 20 others in a large group.

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SomeDAM Poet says:

January 4, 2022 at 6:55 pm

AFrom the Washington Post article

“In the absence of testing, “we have to rely on what we’ve done previously in the pandemic,” Ko said: Get vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. Exercise extra caution around people who are at increased risk of severe covid-19, and consider not going to an event if a high-risk person is also attending. Additionally, try to stay masked as much as possible (some experts are recommending upgrading masks to N95s, KN95s or double-masking for better protection), keep the gathering size small and consider the risks of any unessential travel”.

Actually, not just “in the absence of testing”

That should be adhered to even with testing because ALL tests (even the most accurate PCR test) can give false negatives.

But antigen tests in particular are fairly UNreliable when it comes to negative results.

Should one feel confident NOT exercising caution around people who are at increased risk of severe covid-19 simply because one got a negative result on a covid antigen test for which the false negative rate can be around 30% for symptomatic individuals or even 40% for asymptomatic individuals?

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- Joel Herman says:
  
  January 4, 2022 at 7:15 pm
  
  Bingo .
  
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Linda says:

January 5, 2022 at 9:56 am

The aim of Covid and its vaccine is to wipe out half of the population. A major funder for the GOP in Utah, Dave Bateman, told that to Utah’s governor and tech executives. Mainstream media including Deseret.com (1-4-2022) covered the story.
The fascist danger presented by wealthy and powerful conservative Christians shouldn’t be dismissed with the excuse that sects have versions within.That rationale provides cover for the growth of a dangerous movement.

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 5, 2022 at 11:01 am
  
  The aim of covid and it’s vaccine is to wipe out half the population ” is an odd claim coming from someone representing the half of the population now most severely effected by covid because of vaccine refusal.
  
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  - Linda says:
    
    January 5, 2022 at 7:19 pm
    
    Bateman’s letter also described Pope Francis as breaching the Catholic Church, its first infiltrator (saboteur) after previous attempts failed for the past 300 years.
    Critics claim Bateman lives in Puerto Rico for tax advantages.
    He has views that are consistent with Narcissists and 1930’s German fascism. Logic isn’t tethered to either descriptor.
    
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Richard Holsworth says:

January 5, 2022 at 11:56 am

Not The Onion, New York: “For teachers who test positive, symptoms that would allow them to return include a “minimal cough” — they can’t be ‘coughing up phlegm’”
https://www.businessinsider.com/teachers-can-return-to-classroom-after-positive-covid-test-mild-symptoms-2022-1

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 5, 2022 at 12:23 pm
  
  How does one verify this in practice?
  
  Will they have security personnel at the door checking for phlegm?
  
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 5, 2022 at 12:24 pm
    
    Phlegm Police?
    
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