White House just announced...people can now go to their local pharmacy and get free Covid tests that they can take at home instead of needing to see their private doctor and wondering if it will be covered by their medical insurance. It's part of the White House plan to protect Americans this winter from the Omicron mutant virus. I think it will be very useful for the Delta Variant because its still the most dominant mutant strain sending people to the hospital or causing death. I suspect those not vaccinated will hoard them all. wrbtrader
Maybe too costly to package and ship to individuals like that (each household) when they can ship in bulk to local pharmacies. Also, forgot to mention, all international travelers must be tested within 24hrs prior to departure to the United States regardless of vaccination status. I would have like them to add that international travelers must quarantine and test again within 3 days after arrival. By the way, CDC just put out a map of hospitalization and deaths since the start of vaccination that I will post later when it becomes available on their website... Red states are 50% more likely to die from Covid than Blue states. Also, 85% of the Blue states are fully vaccinated versus 55% of the Red states. Well, now we know why most of the Covid hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths since vaccination here in North America have occurred in the Red states. The above stats is about 2 months old but I'm not sure why they're repeating it again today. Graphs and data were posted before but I'm waiting for updated data now considering they've just mentioned it again today. wrbtrader
The real problem is that when someone wants to travel -- cruise lines, other countries (for entry), etc. will not accept at-home test results -- unless it is one of those at-home test you take in-front of a video conference with a provider but these tests with consultation typically cost over $100. The Biden initiative may give people peace-of-mind that they are either infected or not. But they are unlikely to be accepted as negative Covid test evidence by schools, concert venue entry, travel, etc.
If you ask a right winger why Covid deaths are higher in red states post-vaccinations they’ll tell you the only way to stop a bad guy with a virus is a good guy with a virus. Anyway, I live in a town of ~60,000, mail main comes 6 days a week, post office would only need to drop 10k tests a day. Seems easy to me.
If I was in the United States right now, I don't think I would be a user of these Free Home Covid Tests. Instead, I have an old-school way of testing people for Covid that would want to enter my home. I would do the flamethrower and blood test. Yet, I will make sure that the flamethrower is working properly prior to the blood tests. wrbtrader
FALSE. You have to shell out the money for the test, and then apply for reimbursement through the private company. You may or not get the money back, because that is at the whim of the private insurer. Many private insurance companies are going to get their executives rich on this nonsense.