Free in-home Covid test Kits

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JD2775
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by JD2775 »

celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm I feel sorry for the mail carriers.

Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
I didn't think of that....all these over the counter tests that people buy at Walgreens, CVS etc...if someone tests positive with one are they expected to report that somewhere? I have no idea how that works as I haven't been tested as of yet.
Carson
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Carson »

JD2775 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:55 pm
I didn't think of that....all these over the counter tests that people buy at Walgreens, CVS etc...if someone tests positive with one are they expected to report that somewhere? I have no idea how that works as I haven't been tested as of yet.
I did my first non-proctored home test recently. In the instructions it says if you test positive to self-report it to your local health department or MD. Riiiggght...
rich126
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by rich126 »

colddeadfish wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:00 pm
mikep wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:56 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:33 pm
mikep wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:29 pm I tried to order, but said there already was an order to my address and canceled? Maybe not ready for prime time yet.
Does someone else live with you? Perhaps they already placed an order?
At this time, it's "one order per address".

ETA: To clarify it's one order, of 4 tests, per address at this time.

RM
I've tried multiple variations and none work. Figures.
No. Hopefully we will still get some anyway if they think we already ordered.
I am reading that if you live in an apartment you need to put the unit # in the first line and street address in the second line. The system is reading the information as having already been submitted. I haven't tried it.
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celia
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by celia »

jebmke wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
they don't know now. Testing is not being done in a scientific way in terms of sampling.
I agree. I've often thought that if we round up 100s of healthy people to go get tested in our city, our cases per 100,000 would go down! In fact, DH and I were walking by a pop-up test station a few months ago that had no line. They were giving out free $5 gift cards to a store and I figured why not do it? But having to find my Medicare # and show ID, I felt it was becoming an invasion of privacy, so we declined.
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jabberwockOG
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by jabberwockOG »

Ordered a few minutes ago. It took me less than 2 minutes to order and I was deliberately going slow. Smooth easy process.
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quantAndHold
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by quantAndHold »

celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:23 pm
jebmke wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
they don't know now. Testing is not being done in a scientific way in terms of sampling.
I agree. I've often thought that if we round up 100s of healthy people to go get tested in our city, our cases per 100,000 would go down! In fact, DH and I were walking by a pop-up test station a few months ago that had no line. They were giving out free $5 gift cards to a store and I figured why not do it? But having to find my Medicare # and show ID, I felt it was becoming an invasion of privacy, so we declined.
Probably for the best. A lot of those pop up testing booths are fake sites, just there to get your personal information. The legit (San a Diego) county sites I went to either didn’t ask for insurance info, or didn’t care when I didn’t give it to them.
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tetractys
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by tetractys »

Ordered the free 4 tests for our house through USPS—very simple! Certainly the tests are registrable.
Last edited by tetractys on Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ddurrett896
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by ddurrett896 »

Define free....
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tetractys
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by tetractys »

ddurrett896 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:34 pm Define free....
$0
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SmileyFace
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by SmileyFace »

celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm I feel sorry for the mail carriers.

Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
Already happening.
I felt sick 2 weeks ago. COVID testing sites had a 2+ hour wait (too sick to stand in line for 2 hours) or appointments were 5 days out so I bought rapid tests at the drug store (they are all selling out now and hard to find) and found out I had COVID. Not my fault there is no testing available and no place to report I had COVID so I, and all my household, were not included in the stats. I am sure this is happening pretty regularly now.
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GerryL
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by GerryL »

jebmke wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm I feel sorry for the mail carriers.

Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
they don't know now. Testing is not being done in a scientific way in terms of sampling.
The purpose of the tests is not to collect data. The only data points that really matter at this point are hospitalizations and death.
These at-home tests are intended to help people make decisions about whether they should, for instance, go forward with plans to visit family or stay home from work or school or call the doctor -- and maybe take a PCR test.
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GerryL
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by GerryL »

tetractys wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:35 pm
ddurrett896 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:34 pm Define free....
$0
In this case, "free" means at no cost to the person getting the kits.

As I suspect ddurrett896 was implying, nothing is actually free. I too hate seeing signs that announce "Free Flu Shots."
rich126
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by rich126 »

quantAndHold wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:51 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:23 pm
jebmke wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
they don't know now. Testing is not being done in a scientific way in terms of sampling.
I agree. I've often thought that if we round up 100s of healthy people to go get tested in our city, our cases per 100,000 would go down! In fact, DH and I were walking by a pop-up test station a few months ago that had no line. They were giving out free $5 gift cards to a store and I figured why not do it? But having to find my Medicare # and show ID, I felt it was becoming an invasion of privacy, so we declined.
Probably for the best. A lot of those pop up testing booths are fake sites, just there to get your personal information. The legit (San a Diego) county sites I went to either didn’t ask for insurance info, or didn’t care when I didn’t give it to them.
I've often thought that if we round up 100s of healthy people to go get tested in our city, our cases per 100,000 would go down! In fact, DH and I wer
That makes no sense it is number of cases per 100k of population. The number of negative tests has no affect on that number. It would only affect the positivity rate.
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D. C. Pline
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by D. C. Pline »

Just ordered. Quick and easy. Confirmation came right away. This is much easier than trying to find some at a store. Will keep them on hand in case I feel ill, or if I am considering being around a crowd of people.
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tetractys
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by tetractys »

GerryL wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:50 pm
tetractys wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:35 pm
ddurrett896 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:34 pm Define free....
$0
In this case, "free" means at no cost to the person getting the kits.

As I suspect ddurrett896 was implying, nothing is actually free. I too hate seeing signs that announce "Free Flu Shots."
Then again actually everything is free; but politics are off topic.
wander
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by wander »

Katietsu wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:15 pm To clarify:
2) Beginning January 15, private insurance must cover up to 8 tests per month per individual. If you have 4 family members on your plan that could be up to 32 tests. There are a couple different ways that the insurance company can meet this obligation. Please check with your insurance company for details.
Yeah, my insurance reimburses 8 tests a month. 96 tests for a year. There is no limit. We need to keep the receipts.
RudyS
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by RudyS »

JoeRetire wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:13 am
TLC wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:03 am The site is now live and taking orders.
Nope.
For today (Tuesday) it's a beta site, supposed to go fully open tomorrow (Wed). I ordered, and got confirmation a bit ago.
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ejvyas
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by ejvyas »

celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm I feel sorry for the mail carriers.

Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
They are shifting to a model of self-reporting and self-care unless its an emergency. In short, the case numbers might become irrelevant if people stop reporting their cases. It would definitely relieve some pressure off schools, nurses and test centers. People will hopefully test more and quarantine if required. I had to wait 7 days to get a testing appt and 3 days for test results 2 weeks back.

I always thought they should have sent masks and test kits to everyone 2 yrs ago.
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JoeRetire
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by JoeRetire »

ejvyas wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:18 pmPeople will hopefully test more and quarantine if required.
It seems clear that some will, many won't.
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JoeRetire
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by JoeRetire »

RudyS wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:34 pm
JoeRetire wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:13 am
TLC wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:03 am The site is now live and taking orders.
Nope.
For today (Tuesday) it's a beta site, supposed to go fully open tomorrow (Wed). I ordered, and got confirmation a bit ago.
Yup. That was my experience as well.
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wolf359
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by wolf359 »

ResearchMed wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:21 pm Which test (or tests?) is being sent out using this free online ordering system (gov and USPS)?

I assume they are non-proctored tests?

Also, it seems that Abbott makes BinaxNOW in a proctored and non-proctored packaging. Are they identical, other than having someone watch to make sure the person is indeed doing their own test?

RM
Initial news reports when the program was announced stated that this was going to be the Abbott Labs BinaxNOW test. However, the site does not say, and given the number of tests, it's probable that they may need more than one supplier. In other words, the answer is that it's probably Abbott, but we don't know.

I have purchased both the proctored and non-proctored BinaxNOW tests. The tests themselves are identical. The proctored version only has one test per box. The non-proctored version had two, and is significantly cheaper. The proctored version is required for travel, to return to the US.

The version they're sending is a non-proctored version. They've already stated that the version they're sending is not acceptable for travel testing.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by wolf359 »

celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:23 pm
jebmke wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
they don't know now. Testing is not being done in a scientific way in terms of sampling.
I agree. I've often thought that if we round up 100s of healthy people to go get tested in our city, our cases per 100,000 would go down! In fact, DH and I were walking by a pop-up test station a few months ago that had no line. They were giving out free $5 gift cards to a store and I figured why not do it? But having to find my Medicare # and show ID, I felt it was becoming an invasion of privacy, so we declined.
The statistic is cases per 100,000 people. Testing healthy people doesn't change the denominator (the overall population.)

There are questions about the reliability of some of the pop-up test stations. Some may be outright scams or attempts at identity theft. (Source: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/ ... sites.html / https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/13 ... omplaints/) From the AARP description, you may have just had a near-miss to one of the scammers trying to get your Medicare number.

If you need to get tested and rely on the result, go to your doctor, a pharmacy, or directly to one of the established labs.
Last edited by wolf359 on Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
ROIGuy
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by ROIGuy »

DW ordered ours yesterday.
bberris
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by bberris »

thriftynick wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:17 am Does anyone know how long these last before they expire?
The Binax tests ( I think these are the ones being issued) have had their original expiration dates extended numerous times. The ones I am familiar with are the proctored Home test. You still have to pay for these. The self tests use the same technology but without a proctor. I think the original expiration dates were conservative and as continued testing of their accuracy goes on with dated kits the FDA authorized extensions.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Rainier »

colddeadfish wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:19 am
thriftynick wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:17 am Does anyone know how long these last before they expire?
I got some from the state in Colorado a few months ago and they expire in March so I would guess they are good for about 6 months max.
Depends on the test. I have some that expire over a year from now.
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quantAndHold
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by quantAndHold »

Rainier wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:02 pm
colddeadfish wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:19 am
thriftynick wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:17 am Does anyone know how long these last before they expire?
I got some from the state in Colorado a few months ago and they expire in March so I would guess they are good for about 6 months max.
Depends on the test. I have some that expire over a year from now.
Some tests expire in six months, others 2 years. If you actually have a choice and are buying them to throw in a drawer “just in case,” it’s worthwhile to check expiration dates.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Flyer24 »

Additional off-topic posts were deleted. Focus on the original post about obtaining a free test.
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celia
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by celia »

wolf359 wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:51 am The statistic is cases per 100,000 people. Testing healthy people doesn't change the denominator (the overall population.)
If 10% of the people tested have covid, and you test another group of people (same size group) who are healthy, then 5% of those tested have covid. Normalize that to 100,000 people and you have 5,000 instead of 10,000 per 100,000 people, regardless of what your population size is.

In your statement, you are assuming all the untested people are healthy whereas I compare the covid cases to the number who were tested. My calculation is close to what our city is posting online.

However, my city is neither 5,000 per 100,000 people nor 10,000 per 100,000 people. I am just explaining how I think the calculation works. And people getting tested or not, wearing masks or not does not change the calculation. But testing at home and not reporting the results does change the calculation. It is as if your test results were lost. Pretty soon the “official” calculation is meaningless because you are basing it on missing data.

Even if all the positive at-home tests were reported, that wouldn’t be accurate either. All the negatives would also have to be reported.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by squirm »

SmileyFace wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:41 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm I feel sorry for the mail carriers.

Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
Already happening.
I felt sick 2 weeks ago. COVID testing sites had a 2+ hour wait (too sick to stand in line for 2 hours) or appointments were 5 days out so I bought rapid tests at the drug store (they are all selling out now and hard to find) and found out I had COVID. Not my fault there is no testing available and no place to report I had COVID so I, and all my household, were not included in the stats. I am sure this is happening pretty regularly now.
Yes, big time. Some family members got COVID recently, they found out from the home test. No reporting either.
It's like the low numbers of infections they like to graph at the beginning of all of this, as if very few people had it at first. Very few test was available then.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

I ordered my free test kit today. Got a confirmation email within ten minutes. Was quite easy.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by mervinj7 »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:16 pm I ordered my free test kit today. Got a confirmation email within ten minutes. Was quite easy.
+1 very easy process.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by nisiprius »

thriftynick wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:17 am Does anyone know how long these last before they expire?
All the ones we've bought, couple each from from Abbott, iHealth, and QuickView--we took what we could get, of course, and there was no way to check the ones we mail-ordered before we received them--had clear expiry dates on them. The Abbott and iHealth had "use by" dates about five months from the date we bought them. The QuickView tests say they were manufactured 2021-12-13, expiry 2023-11-03, and should be stored between 59 and 86°F.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by willthrill81 »

Cobra Commander wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 5:55 pm Yep,its legit and at some point in the near future your insurance has to cover several home tests per month. Not sure how the details on that are being worked out regarding billing codes, etc. You will probably need to submit for reimbursement for a while until things get set up.
I just submitted a claim for a test I bought on Monday. They're saying that it could take 4-6 weeks for the reimbursement. Good thing it was only $10.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by GerryL »

willthrill81 wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:29 pm
Cobra Commander wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 5:55 pm Yep,its legit and at some point in the near future your insurance has to cover several home tests per month. Not sure how the details on that are being worked out regarding billing codes, etc. You will probably need to submit for reimbursement for a while until things get set up.
I just submitted a claim for a test I bought on Monday. They're saying that it could take 4-6 weeks for the reimbursement. Good thing it was only $10.
Yeah, the good ol' reimbursement process. The business cost of running the reimbursement transaction (aka shipping & handling) probably costs more than the actual amount reimbursed. In your case, much more.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by CletusCaddy »

squirm wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 4:58 pm
SmileyFace wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:41 pm
celia wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:37 pm I feel sorry for the mail carriers.

Wonder how the government will know how prevalent covid still is if everyone tests privately at home. Our city statistics already show an asterisk that those who test at home are not included in the stats. I guess that in a month or two, we will have no official cases any more, since we're all testing at home. This could end up being detrimental for public health.
Already happening.
I felt sick 2 weeks ago. COVID testing sites had a 2+ hour wait (too sick to stand in line for 2 hours) or appointments were 5 days out so I bought rapid tests at the drug store (they are all selling out now and hard to find) and found out I had COVID. Not my fault there is no testing available and no place to report I had COVID so I, and all my household, were not included in the stats. I am sure this is happening pretty regularly now.
Yes, big time. Some family members got COVID recently, they found out from the home test. No reporting either.
It's like the low numbers of infections they like to graph at the beginning of all of this, as if very few people had it at first. Very few test was available then.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by LadyGeek »

Please stay on-topic, which is about the test kits. As a reminder, see: Please read before posting on coronavirus/COVID-19
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by JoeRetire »

GerryL wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:26 pm Yeah, the good ol' reimbursement process. The business cost of running the reimbursement transaction (aka shipping & handling) probably costs more than the actual amount reimbursed. In your case, much more.
You think it costs more than $10 to process a reimbursement?
Not a chance.
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Trism »

I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.

Separately... I ordered three sets (one each for me, my parents, and my aunt), each sent to our respective addresses (single-family homes, so no apartment/unit number issues).

The first email confirmation took 40 minutes to arrive, and the second and third still haven't shown up two days later.
egrets
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by egrets »

Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:42 am I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.
USPS delivers correctly to my address without fail. With FedEx and UPS, God knows where stuff winds up. I've had an instance of UPS apparently throwing a package at the edge of the street where it got run over.
Trism
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Trism »

egrets wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:10 am
Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:42 am I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.
USPS delivers correctly to my address without fail. With FedEx and UPS, God knows where stuff winds up. I've had an instance of UPS apparently throwing a package at the edge of the street where it got run over.
You may have decent experience with USPS (we do not), but I promise you none of them delivers without fail.
wander
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by wander »

We got free test kits (2 for each person) at local library last week. No question was asked, no address was given. It was quick.
clip651
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by clip651 »

Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:42 am I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.

Separately... I ordered three sets (one each for me, my parents, and my aunt), each sent to our respective addresses (single-family homes, so no apartment/unit number issues).

The first email confirmation took 40 minutes to arrive, and the second and third still haven't shown up two days later.
Well, USPS is part of the federal government, so that may be part of the reason they picked them for fulfillment. Plus for I'm not aware of UPS or FedEx offering bulk shipping options. So I'm guessing USPS is a much less expensive shipping option for the government to fulfill these orders.
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quantAndHold
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by quantAndHold »

wander wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:23 am We got free test kits (2 for each person) at local library last week. No question was asked, no address was given. It was quick.
Is that why my library had a sign out front saying that every library in the city was out of test kits?
Trism
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Trism »

wander wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:23 am We got free test kits (2 for each person) at local library last week. No question was asked, no address was given. It was quick.
On NextDoor I have been multiple reports of people picking up free kits at schools, libraries, etc., and then selling the tests on Craiglist and elsewhere for ~$50 each.

People disgust me.
Trism
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Trism »

clip651 wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:05 am
Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:42 am I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.

Separately... I ordered three sets (one each for me, my parents, and my aunt), each sent to our respective addresses (single-family homes, so no apartment/unit number issues).

The first email confirmation took 40 minutes to arrive, and the second and third still haven't shown up two days later.
Well, USPS is part of the federal government, so that may be part of the reason they picked them for fulfillment. Plus for I'm not aware of UPS or FedEx offering bulk shipping options. So I'm guessing USPS is a much less expensive shipping option for the government to fulfill these orders.
I'm not familiar with USPS bulk shipping, with the exception of third-class letters (junk mail). Same concept?

Regardless, this doesn't seem like a contract you'd award on an exclusive basis to the lowest bidder.
jharkin
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by jharkin »

Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:19 am
egrets wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:10 am
Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:42 am I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.
USPS delivers correctly to my address without fail. With FedEx and UPS, God knows where stuff winds up. I've had an instance of UPS apparently throwing a package at the edge of the street where it got run over.
You may have decent experience with USPS (we do not), but I promise you none of them delivers without fail.
Delivery service, like most customer service issues, is local. Whenever these discussions come up most of hte complaints seem to come from remote and rural areas.

Where I live (near Boston), USPS has been extremely reliable. I can think of maybe 2 times in the last 20 years something has got lost. We have been on a first name basis with a couple of the carriers on my route and one of them would get out of hte fan and actually walk up and place the mail inside the door of my mudroom on rainy days. (weird, but you cant beat that level of service)

The commercial carriers are a mixed bag, OTOH. Fedex tends to be good. UPS so-so. UPS has crushed a few packages beyond recovery (but delivered them anyway) and from time to time marks things delivered when still on the truck. Also they love to toss things randomly around hte property making me play hide sand seek trying to find it.

clip651 wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:05 am
Trism wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:42 am I'm wondering if the major private national logistics/shipping companies (UPS, FedEx) declined to bid, or if proposals were even sought.

USPS is likely the slowest and least reliable of the three main national options, but even if my assumption is incorrect it would seem that fulfillment of such an enormous, critical mission would be expedited by balancing the load across multiple delivery vendors.

Separately... I ordered three sets (one each for me, my parents, and my aunt), each sent to our respective addresses (single-family homes, so no apartment/unit number issues).

The first email confirmation took 40 minutes to arrive, and the second and third still haven't shown up two days later.
Well, USPS is part of the federal government, so that may be part of the reason they picked them for fulfillment. Plus for I'm not aware of UPS or FedEx offering bulk shipping options. So I'm guessing USPS is a much less expensive shipping option for the government to fulfill these orders.
I would imagine all 3 of them negotiate bulk rates for large customers. You don't think Jeff Bezos fires up his laptop, logs onto UPS.com and clicks "show discount for 100 million boxes" do you? Its negotiated on a customer by customer basis at that level.
wander
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by wander »

quantAndHold wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:10 am
wander wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:23 am We got free test kits (2 for each person) at local library last week. No question was asked, no address was given. It was quick.
Is that why my library had a sign out front saying that every library in the city was out of test kits?
I have no idea. Our local County Health Department provides all the announcements on its website.
Trism
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Re: Free in-home Covid test Kits

Post by Trism »

No disagreement that there's a local component to final delivery issues (although we live in a suburban part of Columbus, Ohio).

While we were out of town recently with a mail hold in place, USPS left boxes of commercial foodservice bags, which were addressed to a business at an address that only had a ZIP code in common with our address.

I've watched our regular USPS mail delivery guy stop 15 feet from our front porch and do an underhand toss to get a package to our front door.

But beyond that, USPS' tracking system is routinely incorrect. I regularly get "delivered" notifications from USPS the day before a package arrives. And it's not uncommon for the tracking history to just stop 1,000 miles away... but the package shows up anyway.

I'm not making this up; you can find evidence of the tracking problem on USPS Inspector General's web site:

https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/scanning-issues-persist

Carriers are supposed to scan a package at the delivery location after either delivering or attempting to deliver the package. This scan “stops the clock,” indicating USPS has met its delivery commitment. Anyone tracking a package would see that delivery was made or attempted. Two years ago, our comprehensive audit on USPS’s package delivery scanning process in city delivery operations found carriers were sometimes making improper “stop-the-clock” scans at a location other than the designated delivery location (house, business, apartment building).

If a carrier makes a “stop the clock” scan at a location other than the delivery point – before delivery is even attempted – a customer would see package delivery made or attempted when none has actually occurred.

Last year, we reviewed package scanning procedures at 25 delivery units and found USPS employees were not always following package scanning procedures at 21 of the 25 units. Specifically, 38 percent of the more than 1,100 packages that were selected at these units and that were in the facility before the carriers arrived for the day had been improperly scanned. For example, 191 packages had been scanned as delivered but were still at the unit, and 113 packages that were not delivered had no scan indicating why they weren’t.

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