Rapid coronavirus tests are still hard to find in many places, despite Biden vows

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Thu, 2021-12-09 12:47 — mike kraft

President Biden announced last week that rapid coronavirus tests were a pillar of his plan to fight the new and potentially more transmissible omicron variant, now confirmed in at least 21 states.

But nearly a year into his administration, the availability of low-cost coronavirus tests that return results in as little as 15 minutes remains an oft-promised but still unrealized capability in large swaths of the country — a far cry from the situation in countries such as Britain and Singapore where the government purchased the kits last spring and distributed millions of them free or at low cost.

Many people in the United States cannot find the tests online or at retail stores because the kits are often out of stock — and when they do see them, consumers may be unable to buy them in quantity because of the cost, typically around $25 for a packet of two. That makes it impractical to urge all Americans to incorporate the tests into their daily routines — especially before going to work, traveling or gathering indoors with family members and friends — to avoid spreading the virus unintentionally, as many health experts now advise.

In some states, supply issues have also affected the tests’ availability for schoolchildren and residents of long-term care facilities, homeless shelters and prisons. A recurring theme on a call of state health officers last week “was the challenge at the state level with obtaining rapid tests,” said Nirav D. Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Maine, Kansas, North Carolina and Washington officials are among those who have complained of difficulty procuring sufficient test kits and the need for more federal funds to help states purchase them.

The scattershot availability and high cost of the rapid tests are the latest issues in a nearly two-year saga of stumbles that have plagued coronavirus testing in the United States across two administrations, undercutting efforts to curb the spread of the virus and keep schools and businesses open safely. One of the biggest mistakes early in the pandemic was underestimating the impact of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic spreaders. Rapid tests can identify such people and if widely used, help stop chains of transmission that turn viral flare-ups into conflagrations, say health experts.

While the Biden administration arrived late to its commitment to increase the U.S. supply of rapid tests, it has taken steps to increase their availability in recent months, including investing billions of dollars to buy the tests directly from manufacturers. Public health experts welcome those initiatives, but say more needs to be done. ...

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