Testing in your area

[MuggsyB]

I'm just curious how easy or difficult it has been for scoopers to get the rapid test or home kit in their respective areas?  Because many people I know cannot get tested unless they wait in 2+ hr lines or they aren't available at all.

[JWags85]

I'm just curious how easy or difficult it has been for scoopers to get the rapid test or home kit in their respective areas?  Because many people I know cannot get tested unless they wait in 2+ hr lines or they aren't available at all.

SE Wisconsin at home tests are MIA.  In the Tampa/St Pete area where I just was for Christmas, same deal.

Rapid tests arent as bad though.

[mu_hilltopper]

Super fortunate, our school district has a testing program.  On a day there were lines wrapped out of test sites .. we went to our school's and was in and out in 5 minutes.  They did two swabs, and emailed results in 15 minutes, and the other test result the next morning.

[pbiflyer]

5 hour wait for free tests. Rumors of self tests available at some stores in south Florida.
If you are willing to pay for tests, they are to be had with minimal wait. Yah capitalism?

[Billy Hoyle]

I'm just curious how easy or difficult it has been for scoopers to get the rapid test or home kit in their respective areas?  Because many people I know cannot get tested unless they wait in 2+ hr lines or they aren't available at all.

I have a supply I got at work that I keep at home. Had an exposure last week, two tests came back clear. Back to normal life.

[Warriors4ever]

I bought several in the weeks leading up to Christmas because I could tell folks had started buying them in the Vaccine Hunters FB group. I have given all but one away at this point. Just ordered a couple more online. I did the University of Illinois Shield saliva test over at Northeastern Illinois University the Tuesday before Christmas, really didn’t wait at all though I understood there were lines earlier that day. They resume again after the new year.
Be careful where you go, some of the pop ups here haven’t been sending PCR results for a week, or never.

[4everwarriors]

5 hour wait for free tests. Rumors of self tests available at some stores in south Florida.
If you are willing to pay for tests, they are to be had with minimal wait. Yah capitalism?

Aka, nothin' worthwhile iz free, aina?

[GB Warrior]

5 hour wait for free tests. Rumors of self tests available at some stores in south Florida.
If you are willing to pay for tests, they are to be had with minimal wait. Yah capitalism?

We stocked up on tests anticipating this. But what a world we live in where that's necessary. I drive by Marquette, and the test site down by Valley Fields was consistently extremely long. Very disappointing that our governments either actively obstructed progress or proved they couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time while trying to will the pandemic to end.

[warriorchick]

Went past the Summit testing site in Germantown yesterday afternoon, and the line was 15-20 feet long outside of the door.

[Warriors4ever]

There are anecdotal reports of people heading to areas where the vaccination rate is lower and successfully finding home tests there.

[Galway Eagle]

There are anecdotal reports of people heading to areas where the vaccination rate is lower and successfully finding home tests there.

That's what I did

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

I live close to a rapid testing sight. Results in 3 hours.

[#UnleashSean]

For one of my first political posts ever.... seems that the testing in 2020 under Trump wasn't that awful eh?

Of course, we were only testing when we thought people had it, and hoarding the tests, while now we let literally anyone come in and get tested.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I've got a bunch for sale, $50 a pop.  I'll throw in postage and handling, hey.

[Skatastrophy]

For one of my first political posts ever.... seems that the testing in 2020 under Trump wasn't that awful eh?

Of course, we were only testing when we thought people had it, and hoarding the tests, while now we let literally anyone come in and get tested.

Yes, but testing in 2020 was in lower demand... before many places required negative tests or a vaccination to go to work or attend anything.

Supply is higher than 2020 with the variety of at home tests, and our more scaled/mature testing infrastructure. Demand is much higher than 2020, especially since we're not shutting down during a surge.

[Hards Alumni]

I've got a bunch for sale, $50 a pop.  I'll throw in postage and handling, hey.

I'll take one, but it must be mailed attached to a cinder block... for safety reasons.

[MuggsyB]

I honestly didn't anticipate this would be such a problem now. 

[Goose]

There is a rapid test center in my office building in downtown MKE and quite busy. We were able to find a bunch of rapid home tests in the inner city of MKE. All of the home tests in western burbs were sold everywhere we went.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

For one of my first political posts ever.... seems that the testing in 2020 under Trump wasn't that awful eh?

Testing was awful and got better under the trump admin with Brent Giroir.  He solved that first crisis.  Then we went into testing stasis for political reasons and it wasn’t sufficient in the fall/winter surge—but was much better than the start of the pandemic.  B. Giroir did some things to setup the next admin on antigen testing that wasn’t advanced. 

The Biden admin made two key errors in my mind.  1. They believed the vaccine alone could end the pandemic. 2. They totally dismissed Antigen tests.  I have been using those since the summer and if a group of vaccinated people take one before an event it is a big risk reducer (not eliminating but reducing).

So here we are. You can claim this snuck up quick (it did) but reality is that the medical community has been screaming about antigen tests (costs higher than Europe and supply too low) loudly since June/July and even before. 

Total miscalculation by the current admin.  These things should be everywhere and cheap (~$1-2).  Instead we have to hunt for them and they are $10 a pop—a luxury for the wealthy. 

[GB Warrior]

Testing was awful and got better under the trump admin with Brent Giroir.  He solved that first crisis.  Then we went into testing stasis for political reasons and it wasn’t sufficient in the fall/winter surge—but was much better than the start of the pandemic.  B. Giroir did some things to setup the next admin on antigen testing that wasn’t advanced. 

The Biden admin made two key errors in my mind.  1. They believed the vaccine alone could end the pandemic. 2. They totally dismissed Antigen tests.  I have been using those since the summer and if a group of vaccinated people take one before an event it is a big risk reducer (not eliminating but reducing).

So here we are. You can claim this snuck up quick (it did) but reality is that the medical community has been screaming about antigen tests (costs higher than Europe and supply too low) loudly since June/July and even before. 

Total miscalculation by the current admin.  These things should be everywhere and cheap (~$1-2).  Instead we have to hunt for them and they are $10 a pop—a luxury for the wealthy.

This ^

[mu_hilltopper]

The Biden admin made two key errors in my mind.  1. They believed the vaccine alone could end the pandemic. 2. They totally dismissed Antigen tests. 

I don't entirely disagree, but .. vaccination was ending the pandemic, bringing Alpha and Delta down to tolerable levels.   Other variants were inevitable but we (Biden) rolled snake-eyes with Omicron, hitting right around the holidays (large gatherings) with a virus profile that was 420% more transmissible.

So .. should the admin expect variants?  Yes.   But there are a bunch of possibilities for each one, including making tests that The Variant To Be Named Later has a high false-negative rate on Covid 1.0 test strips.   Imaging gambling and making a billion tests that didn't work good enough.

In conclusion .. this is a tough business to be in, and everyone wants your predictions to be spot on 120 days in the past.  Good luck on that.

[Lennys Tap]

In conclusion .. this is a tough business to be in, and everyone wants your predictions to be spot on 120 days in the past.  Good luck on that.

Yep, defeating Covid, solving the border crisis, exiting Afghanistan, dealing with China and Russia, inflation, violent crime (especially in our cities), etc., etc., etc., have all made being president a “tough business to be in”. So far, so bad.

[pbiflyer]

Aka, nothin' worthwhile iz free, aina?

Let ‘‘em eat cake, eh? That ended well.

[MuggsyB]

Testing was awful and got better under the trump admin with Brent Giroir.  He solved that first crisis.  Then we went into testing stasis for political reasons and it wasn’t sufficient in the fall/winter surge—but was much better than the start of the pandemic.  B. Giroir did some things to setup the next admin on antigen testing that wasn’t advanced. 

The Biden admin made two key errors in my mind.  1. They believed the vaccine alone could end the pandemic. 2. They totally dismissed Antigen tests.  I have been using those since the summer and if a group of vaccinated people take one before an event it is a big risk reducer (not eliminating but reducing).

So here we are. You can claim this snuck up quick (it did) but reality is that the medical community has been screaming about antigen tests (costs higher than Europe and supply too low) loudly since June/July and even before. 

Total miscalculation by the current admin.  These things should be everywhere and cheap (~$1-2).  Instead we have to hunt for them and they are $10 a pop—a luxury for the wealthy.

They should all be paid for in the covid relief bills.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I don't entirely disagree, but .. vaccination was ending the pandemic, bringing Alpha and Delta down to tolerable levels.   Other variants were inevitable but we (Biden) rolled snake-eyes with Omicron, hitting right around the holidays (large gatherings) with a virus profile that was 420% more transmissible.

So .. should the admin expect variants?  Yes.   But there are a bunch of possibilities for each one, including making tests that The Variant To Be Named Later has a high false-negative rate on Covid 1.0 test strips.   Imaging gambling and making a billion tests that didn't work good enough.

In conclusion .. this is a tough business to be in, and everyone wants your predictions to be spot on 120 days in the past.  Good luck on that.

I don’t disagree but a vaccination only campaign to end the pandemic was clearly not going to happen. We all knew that even before delta breakthroughs (btw because a not small segment of the country is acting irrationally) .  That was when we doubled down with pandemic of the unvaccinated and vaccine mandates which didn’t achieve the desired result. 

IMO starting a plan B in June would have been prudent once it was clear we were lagging the world in vaccinations.  We knew this day was coming—it was just a question of when.

Its not like this variant is evading our antigen tests. We just never did the work to force the issue of these things being available AND at a reasonable price. 

[Uncle Rico]

I don’t disagree but a vaccination only campaign to end the pandemic was clearly not going to happen. We all knew that even before delta breakthroughs (btw because a not small segment of the country is acting irrationally) .  That was when we doubled down with pandemic of the unvaccinated and vaccine mandates which didn’t achieve the desired result. 

IMO starting a plan B in June would have been prudent once it was clear we were lagging the world in vaccinations.  We knew this day was coming—it was just a question of when.

Its not like this variant is evading our antigen tests. We just never did the work to force the issue of these things being available AND at a reasonable price.

There isn’t an excuse and there is an almost 100% chance the administration was made aware of this possibility.

They may tell you these things come as a surprise, but the Bush-era pandemic response plan that was scrapped would have prepared the previous administration and the current one with a much better plan of attack than the haphazard ones we’ve seen.

When the autopsy is done on our national response, it’ll be an ugly report.  It’ll also be forgotten sooner than later and future generations will make the same mistakes.  It’s the American way

[rocky_warrior]

Its not like this variant is evading our antigen tests. We just never did the work to force the issue of these things being available AND at a reasonable price.

That's all good and well, but assumes plentiful cheap antigen tests would slow the spread of Omi.  I don't see any good data that shows lack of testing is the reason this is a problem.  Instead, as topper mentioned, a new highly transmissible variant showed up just before the US holidays after nearly 2 years of covid exhaustion.  This is, and was, the perfect storm.

Now, do I wish tests were plentiful and easy - sure (even though I haven't done a test since before a surgery in June).  But I also don't think more tests would be slowing Omi.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I’ve got a response to your comment rocky but I don’t want to turn this into another ‘scoop thread’.

All I’ll say is ever since the movie Perfect Storm, there has been at least a dozen of them that pop up every year. 

[rocky_warrior]

All I’ll say is ever since the movie Perfect Storm, there has been at least a dozen of them that pop up every year.

Hah, fair.  I'll remove that from my scoopcabulary.

[4everwarriors]

Yep, defeating Covid, solving the border crisis, exiting Afghanistan, dealing with China and Russia, inflation, violent crime (especially in our cities), etc., etc., etc., have all made being president a “tough business to be in”. So far, so bad.

It's no job for the dumb, feeble, and mentally incompetent, aina?

[MU82]

It's no job for the dumb, feeble, and mentally incompetent, aina?

That's why he was voted out of office, nu?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftpc4fwcDfk

[Hards Alumni]

Yep, defeating Covid, solving the border crisis, exiting Afghanistan, dealing with China and Russia, inflation, violent crime (especially in our cities), etc., etc., etc., have all made being president a “tough business to be in”. So far, so bad.

Funny, I don't recall you ever criticizing our previous president on his record. 

Hmmmmmmmm......

[Hards Alumni]

It's no job for the dumb, feeble, and mentally incompetent, aina?

The "Greatest President of our time" (according to you) was all three as well.

Here's a thought.  Let's stop electing septuagenarians, aina?

[Goose]

Lenny

I seldom pipe in on political topics, but you listed a pretty solid list of issues that the President is in over his head on. Joe and his VP are not providing a ton of confidence or leadership, aside from there will be new folks on those positions in three years.

[Hards Alumni]

Lenny

I seldom pipe in on political topics, but you listed a pretty solid list of issues that the President is in over his head on. Joe and his VP are not providing a ton of confidence or leadership, aside from there will be new folks on those positions in three years.

It's okay to say our previous two executives have been incompetent.

but it's hard for you.

[4everwarriors]

Lenny

I seldom pipe in on political topics, but you listed a pretty solid list of issues that the President is in over his head on. Joe and his VP are not providing a ton of confidence or leadership, aside from there will be new folks on those positions in three years.

All true, but FD Joe will chit the bed and pee down his leg, both figuratively and literally, often between now and then, hey?

[Uncle Rico]

I’m before the lock

[Hards Alumni]

All true, but FD Joe will chit the bed and pee down his leg, both figuratively and literally, often between now and then, hey?

Your hero wears adult diapers.

[GB Warrior]

Speaking of septuagenarians (when in office), Harry Reid died today, and before he could tell us all about the aliens.