this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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"Four free tests will be available for each household to request through the government's COVIDTests.gov portal beginning on Monday, Sept. 25."

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[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 44 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Might be worth saying what country this is for. In Canada, they never went away.

[–] jsh@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not to go all Ameri-centric, but American news organization (CBS) and American government site (.gov).

[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago

I think it would be a good policy to always mention the country in the title (or tag it or wharever). Though yeah, not a mystery which one they're talking about here lol

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

4 whole tests to last for months, potentially years. I wish for once the US didnt half ass literally anything positive.

[–] Tavarin@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, In Canada you can just grab a free box of 5 whenever you want. And when I had Covid I went through 14 tests before I started showing negative.

The US is ass backwards on this one.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For the better part of a year or two the Fed was requiring insurance companies to reimburse people for tests they bought, up to 8 a month. It was a pain in the ass, but my wife and I were testing weekly for free back in late 2021.

[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Why were you testing weekly? Had a flu for a while?

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Covid is often asymptomatic but can still spread to others.

[–] ComfortablyGlum@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I also discovered you can report at home tests at https://learn.makemytestcount.org/.

[–] ForestOrca@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

That's awesome! We need more monitoring. It's the only way we'll know what is actually going on. There's a lot to be said for testing sewage effluent, and not every state can afford that.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Some old tests are still considered good. Check this list to see if any of your old tests are still good.

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I hope they don’t give out expired tests again. The last batch of tests I received early this year were all expired.

[–] Aesculapius@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Most tests had their expiration dates extended.

[–] radix@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only time I got them, it took two weeks to arrive (making it useless to test if you think you had symptoms), and expired in a month (making it almost useless to keep on hand 'just in case').

For the specific use case of going on a pre-planned trip and making sure you're healthy just before leaving? Great. But that's now how the program was presented to the end users.

[–] Wrench@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What? Ever since they were widely available and free, the idea is to keep a supply of them at the ready so you can test any time you're feeling symptomatic.

[–] JCreazy@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do these things go bad? I got some a while ago but I've never tested for COVID

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

As the other comment said, yes they have expiration dates. However many have been extended so check before throwing them out. Some that I got around the time the program first started (I think) aren't due to expire until next March, so yours may very well still be good depending when you got them.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Yes. They should have expiration dates on them. I think they’re good for roughly a year or two.

[–] BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Looks like my package volume is about to skyrocket again