You get 8 free at home coronavirus tests a month

[Rainger99]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year?

[ROCKMUP]

Well, they carved out 86.5 billion for the tests so they are going to get paid

[Willis56]

Well, they carved out 86.5 billion for the tests so they are going to get paid

Crazy talk.

[Djean1981]

Why..?

[Koapaka]

Why..?

:bigbow::bigbow::bigbow::bigbow:

WHY is correct. Unvaxed and for legitimate reasons (not that I need your permission).

Hubby tested ONCED, I have not been. No problems, no issues, no reason.

Even if either of us were to become symptomatic with the variant de jour, we would monitor pulse ox levels at fingertips and if issues required, seek treatment. Otherwise, we would do what we did when we got through Adenovirus, H1N1; the Swine Flu; the Hong Kong flu in the 70's....not a single healthcare worker had a single vaccine, inoculation, hell truth be told, we did not even take anything but the standard precautions. Feel blessed with the multiple exposures I have by being a military dependent, member and contract nurse after retirement.

[EdFNJ]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year? The insurance companies don't have to worry much because even **IF** you wanted ONE you couldn't find it. :)

And then there is this:
Americans on Medicare won’t be eligible for the federal reimbursement plan, though Medicare already covers Covid-19 tests conducted in labs, and Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program plans are already required to fully reimburse the costs of FDA-approved tests.
Biden Requires Insurance Companies To Cover Free At-Home Covid Tests Starting This Weekend (https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2022/01/10/biden-requires-insurance-companies-to-cover-free-at-home-covid-tests-starting-this-weekend/?sh=50a6313411cf)

[Bill14564]

:bigbow::bigbow::bigbow::bigbow:

WHY is correct. Unvaxed and for legitimate reasons (not that I need your permission).

Hubby tested ONCED, I have not been. No problems, no issues, no reason.

Even if either of us were to become symptomatic with the variant de jour, we would monitor pulse ox levels at fingertips and if issues required, seek treatment. Otherwise, we would do what we did when we got the Adenovirus at Lackland AFB, the Swine Flu as we dealt with it there as well; the Hong Kong flu in the 70's....not a single healthcare worker had a single vaccine, a single inoculation, hell truth be told, we did not even take the standard precautions of entering an MRSA pts room anymore. I feel blessed with the multiple exposures I have by being a military dependent, member and contract nurse after retirement.

Well congratulations for not being one of the 50,000,000+ who have tested positive, one of the 830,000+ who have died, one of the 145,000+ currently hospitalized, or one of the 1,500+ who won't live to see another day. Clearly, this program isn't for you. But, that will free up resources for those who haven't been as fortunate or who won't be as fortunate in the future.

Oh, and those who are vaccinated will very likely not need to worry about symptoms, ox levels, or where to seek treatment.

[golfing eagles]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year?

Yes, my question as well----WHO will pay for the 8 "free" tests/month that the "insurance company" has to cover????? I'll give everyone 3 guesses, but you'll only need one.

[Rainger99]

I paid into Medicare for over 50 years while I was working so I was really surprised at how much “free healthcare” cost after I quit working! Maybe we should have “free healthcare”for everyone. At least I don't have to pay for social security anymore!

[Two Bills]

If only people would only get tested if they have symptoms, instead of 'because they can,' then the cost and shortage of kits would not be problem.
Latest test results are almost a social talking point now, just like the weather.:ohdear:

[golfing eagles]

If only people would only get tested if they have symptoms, instead of 'because they can,' then the cost and shortage of kits would not be problem.
Latest test results are almost a social talking point now, just like the weather.:ohdear:

100% correct----If it were up to me I wouldn't allow anyone who is asymptomatic get tested, with the exception of travel requirements or plans to host a cocktail party indoors for 500 unmasked immunosuppressed transplant recipients.

While some people are getting tested because they genuinely don't want to take the chance of spreading the virus, most are just curious and will not do anything differently based on the results (just an opinion, it may be wrong)

But consider this---the asymptomatic people who test positive are NOT coughing, NOT spewing out virus, so unless they plan on exhaling forcefully 3 inches from someone's face, they are at minimal risk to spread COVID. Then, if that person is fully vaccinated and boosted, and the other party the same, the risk of transmission is very low, even with omicron. If they are both masked, it is close to zero

So, IMHO, testing just for the sake of testing on asymptomatic persons is a huge waste of time and money. Heck, even California is sending COVID positive healthcare workers back to work.

[asianthree]

Well congratulations for not being one of the 50,000,000+ who have tested positive, one of the 830,000+ who have died, one of the 145,000+ currently hospitalized, or one of the 1,500+ who won't live to see another day. Clearly, this program isn't for you. But, that will free up resources for those who haven't been as fortunate or who won't be as fortunate in the future.

Oh, and those who are vaccinated will very likely not need to worry about symptoms, ox levels, or where to seek treatment.

You missed the point poster came from medical background, probably exposed to more in a month than most people in their lifetime.

I worked from the beginning, exposed 12plus hours a day, with the same mask for weeks, not tested the entire time. Unvaccinated, (there wasn’t any), and yet majority survived. Like me many came back after retirement to help the short staff.

Many healthcare staff didn’t get tested, hospitalized, or die, but we just attribute that to the multiple of germs, flu, and Covid that is introduced in our system for decades.

We see many who are vaccinated, and really don’t treat them any different than those unvaccinated.

[billethkid]

First hand experience.
Family member was working with a person who tested positive.
As a precaution the family member got tested. Surprise? They tested positive. No symptoms.....none.....not even a sniffle.
They are vaccinated and boosted.

Had they not been exposed and never tested, they would be going about their business as usual.

I am sure this is not an isolated incident!!

[vintageogauge]

Why are so many people in orange county waiting in line for up to 5 hours to get a test. I don't understand why there are so many and what their reasons are. I can see if you are going somewhere that requires a negative test but other than that I don't know.

[JMintzer]

Why are so many people in orange county waiting in line for up to 5 hours to get a test. I don't understand why there are so many and what their reasons are. I can see if you are going somewhere that requires a negative test but other than that I don't know.

https://c.tenor.com/9by5bUKRskMAAAAC/suckhole-lemmings.gif

[Speedie]

I can not wait to get my home tests in July. After Chron fades away naturally in March.

[Love2Swim]

Well congratulations for not being one of the 50,000,000+ who have tested positive, one of the 830,000+ who have died, one of the 145,000+ currently hospitalized, or one of the 1,500+ who won't live to see another day. Clearly, this program isn't for you. But, that will free up resources for those who haven't been as fortunate or who won't be as fortunate in the future.

Oh, and those who are vaccinated will very likely not need to worry about symptoms, ox levels, or where to seek treatment.

:bigbow:

[Love2Swim]

I can not wait to get my home tests in July. After Chron fades away naturally in March.

Don't worry, the tests won't be wasted. Since about 1/3 of the US population is still unvaccinated, there will be plenty of Corona mutations to go around.

[sail33or]

I am absolutely certain the FBI/CIA and Federal Government will not do anything bad with all the DNA samples they are receiving and recording from all the willing participants in the "How can we get everyone's DNA voluntarily contest?"

[billethkid]

Why was there no test panic last year when the fear of the day was the killer delta?

We went from little testing and long vaccine lines in 2020/2021 and now with almost 50% vaccinated long, long testing lines and now authorizing 8 per month.

Totally and completely ridiculous!

Lemmings!

[KyWoman]

Well congratulations for not being one of the 50,000,000+ who have tested positive, one of the 830,000+ who have died, one of the 145,000+ currently hospitalized, or one of the 1,500+ who won't live to see another day. Clearly, this program isn't for you. But, that will free up resources for those who haven't been as fortunate or who won't be as fortunate in the future.

Oh, and those who are vaccinated will very likely not need to worry about symptoms, ox levels, or where to seek treatment.

I have 5 members of my family who are vaccinated, but still tested positive for Covid. Three were mild cases, but 2 of them are struggling 13 days into it. Oh, by the way, their O2 SATS dipped into the high 80's and low 90's.

[Spalumbos62]

Why was there no test panic last year when the fear of the day was the killer delta?

We went from little testing and long vaccine lines in 2020/2021 and now with almost 50% vaccinated long, long testing lines and now authorizing 8 per month.

Totally and completely ridiculous!

Lemmings!

I get they will reimburse you up to 8per mth...but do you need to meet that deductible 1st, and will this submission need a claim form and any supporting paperwork....yeah...who's gonna bother -for maybe 15$...oh wait, that too will have a cap.....oh brother we are screwed yet again....

[MSchad]

Don't worry, the tests won't be wasted. Since about 1/3 of the US population is still unvaccinated, there will be plenty of Corona mutations to go around.
What makes you think the mutations are coming from only the unvaccinated? Anyone can get it and spread it. Has nothing to do with whether or not those that test positive show symptoms or not, or are vaccinated or not. There have been asymptomatic since the beginning of this.

[billethkid]

What makes you think the mutations are coming from only the unvaccinated? Anyone can get it and spread it. Has nothing to do with whether or not those that test positive show symptoms or not, or are vaccinated or not. There have been asymptomatic since the beginning of this.

I would say those who test positive and are fully vaxed (with booster) are more likely to have mild or no symptoms....are significantly less likely to need to be hospitalized or die.

Like it or not the unvaccinated are the more vulnerable to more serious outcomes.

This ongoing debate to vax or not has approached the flu level of support or not. Funny there is not a lot of dialogue about those vaccinations. Obviously no advantage for agenda promotion.

[EdFNJ]

Reimbursed (from retail store) tests aren't available to Medicare recipients but I wonder if you have a "medicare advantage plan" they will cover it.

[mtdjed]

If only people would only get tested if they have symptoms, instead of 'because they can,' then the cost and shortage of kits would not be problem.
Latest test results are almost a social talking point now, just like the weather.:ohdear:

You are not considering the government mandates being forced by OSHA if you happen to be "unvaccinated". That requires a weekly test. Supposedly not to be enforced until Feb 9, if not affected by the Supreme Court.

[jaj523]

That's terrific. But you have to find one to use one. All the pharmacies, Walmart, Publix, etc. are sold out. If you get one, it's on a catch as catch can basis. Pretty disgraceful so far as I am concerned.

[Topspinmo]

Why are so many people in orange county waiting in line for up to 5 hours to get a test. I don't understand why there are so many and what their reasons are. I can see if you are going somewhere that requires a negative test but other than that I don't know.

It’s free line.

[Topspinmo]

So if I have no symptom’s test today at noon negative, I go out on town and come home at 6 pm do I need to test again? O wait what a lot tomorrow, the next day, next week….. we now live in panic world.

[Dana1963]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year?
Florida has no limit on price gouging COVID-19 tests

[Dana1963]

You are not considering the government mandates being forced by OSHA if you happen to be "unvaccinated". That requires a weekly test. Supposedly not to be enforced until Feb 9, if not affected by the Supreme Court.
Surprisingly to get into the Supreme Court you must be vaccinated, masked and have a negative test to get admitted. Will rule on mandate from questioning it seems like the Supreme Court will reject the Administrations argument. I other words “screw everyone but us”.

[christine J Toft]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year?
I also read that Medicare is NOT part of this government program. Only private insurance companies.

[mkjelenbaas]

What did you find out when you did a google?

[Love2Swim]

Why was there no test panic last year when the fear of the day was the killer delta?

We went from little testing and long vaccine lines in 2020/2021 and now with almost 50% vaccinated long, long testing lines and now authorizing 8 per month.

Totally and completely ridiculous!

Lemmings!

So much mis-information spread on Faux news and social media, and people bought into that nonsense. Maybe people finally got it through their heads that the virus is deadly, after over 3/4 of a million people have died.

[tsmall22204]

Why did you start this?

[donassaid]

Fake numbers, fake news. Check out the global mortality rate over the last 4 years. It has stayed consistently at .76%. So much for a contrived global "planned demic". What you should be asking is how many of these lives could have been spared by making Hydroxochloroquine and Ivermectin readily available.

[mlmarr]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year?

more added nonsense, America is going broke and people just stay on this band wagon. when did you test every time, you had a cough, a runny nose or a body ache.

[ThirdOfFive]

Why was there no test panic last year when the fear of the day was the killer delta?

We went from little testing and long vaccine lines in 2020/2021 and now with almost 50% vaccinated long, long testing lines and now authorizing 8 per month.

Totally and completely ridiculous!

Lemmings!
Well, I was thinking "sheep", but lemmings also fits.

Craziness abounds. I was reading the other day where several states are now allowing COVID-positive workers to remain on their jobs in health care settings if they're showing "no or only mild symptoms". So does someone wanna take a stab at explaining just how firing totally healthy people who refuse to get vaccinated and then allowing people WITH COVID to work around sick and vulnerable people, makes any sense?

[Bay Kid]

Pure fear and control. Nothing is free. Some working person is paying for this.

[ThirdOfFive]

So if I have no symptom’s test today at noon negative, I go out on town and come home at 6 pm do I need to test again? O wait what a lot tomorrow, the next day, next week….. we now live in panic world.
Bingo!

In Minnesota the media is pleading for people NOT to go to the E.R. or Urgent Care for tests. They're overflowing with people who are NOT sick but who get tested anyway, and apparently repeatedly, for COVID. It has reached the point where legitimately sick people cannot get emergency services.

Ever see a herd of animals panic and run blindly, all in the same direction? Sheep will do that, among other herd animals. They charge blindly toward what they envision as safety.

Apparently human sheep are pretty much the same.

[quietpine]

Something to think about when you order a test because you think maybe you might have symptoms.

[Marine1974]

There going somewhere.

[toeser]

The insurance companies don't have to worry much because even **IF** you wanted ONE you couldn't find it. :)

And then there is this:
Americans on Medicare won’t be eligible for the federal reimbursement plan, though Medicare already covers Covid-19 tests conducted in labs, and Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program plans are already required to fully reimburse the costs of FDA-approved tests.
Biden Requires Insurance Companies To Cover Free At-Home Covid Tests Starting This Weekend (https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2022/01/10/biden-requires-insurance-companies-to-cover-free-at-home-covid-tests-starting-this-weekend/?sh=50a6313411cf)


Well, it's not like older people have a need for testing. /S

[golfing eagles]

Fake numbers, fake news. Check out the global mortality rate over the last 4 years. It has stayed consistently at .76%. So much for a contrived global "planned demic". What you should be asking is how many of these lives could have been spared by making Hydroxochloroquine and Ivermectin readily available.

short answer-----ZERO

[NotGolfer]

I had heard a while back that these tests are inconclusive. A close family member got tested twice---1st time was positive and 2nd was negative. NO symptoms!! I agree that unless you have symptoms or need one to travel (which I also think is ludicrous) then go for it. FEAR has been so prevelant these last couple of years it's palpable.

[golfing eagles]

Well, I was thinking "sheep", but lemmings also fits.

Craziness abounds. I was reading the other day where several states are now allowing COVID-positive workers to remain on their jobs in health care settings if they're showing "no or only mild symptoms". So does someone wanna take a stab at explaining just how firing totally healthy people who refuse to get vaccinated and then allowing people WITH COVID to work around sick and vulnerable people, makes any sense?

Politics
Public opinion polls
Media hype
Internet garbage

Anything but the real medical science

[JMintzer]

So much mis-information spread on Faux news and social media, and people bought into that nonsense. Maybe people finally got it through their heads that the virus is deadly, after over 3/4 of a million people have died.

And where, pray tell, do you get your "accurate" news?

[NY2TV]

I read it is for private insurance only. NOT for those with Medicare. Please check your facts before spreading misinformation.

[rogerk]

This does NOT apply to Medicare. Medicare does NOT cover at home tests. Go figure...

[Luggage]

most don't understand how medicare really works . Once a year , medicare adjusts payments to doctors, hospitals, pharmacies etc and thus can jiggle all they want if the idea is to keep costs reasonable or not. rates went up this year on the basis that an alzeimers drug will cost $ 56,000 a year . Still not approved however, that means , medicare may have a SURPLUS for next year.

[Tpcshell]

It appears many of you have not talked to your still working children. When they report being exposed they can’t go to work without a negative test. If the had covid they can’t go back until they have a negative test. Tests take over a week to even get scheduled & PCR tests another day. All the time they are at home not getting paid or using all their leave time. Same for school children. Easy to sit in our retired status making comments.

[golfing eagles]

It appears many of you have not talked to your still working children. When they report being exposed they can’t go to work without a negative test. If the had covid they can’t go back until they have a negative test. Tests take over a week to even get scheduled & PCR tests another day. All the time they are at home not getting paid or using all their leave time. Same for school children. Easy to sit in our retired status making comments.

Most of the "comments" are not addressed to those who need a test to return to work, or to travel, or to be around an immunocompromised host. The comments are addressed to those who flock like sheep to a testing site out of curiosity or paranoia, thus clogging the line for those that really need to get tested.

[Byte1]

It was announced today that insurance companies have to pay for eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month. Any thoughts on how much Medicare premiums go up next year?

I don't pay Medicare premiums because I only have "A" which I paid my whole working life, but I think that part "B" went up almost thirty bucks from what I have been told by those that do pay for it.

[macawlaw]

The Villages' demographic is not who the eight tests are for. Families with children can easily go through eight a month. Some schools have very strict rules.

[JMintzer]

The Villages' demographic is not who the eight tests are for. Families with children can easily go through eight a month. Some schools have very strict rules.

It's 8 PER PERSON in a family...

[golfing eagles]

It's 8 PER PERSON in a family...

Paid for by using other people's money :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[Miekies]

short answer-----ZERO

Bless your heart you really don't listen to anything but CNN, MSNBC and the 3 networks.

Ever wonder why Africa and other 3rd world countries are not completely over run by mass covid casualties since they cannot afford these extremely expensive vaccines? These 2 drugs have been used for decades and decades because they are cheap and effective antiviral drugs, used on and off label. I'm. Fascinated by the number of people and doctors that are terrified to actually treat covid. If you actually treat it early, rather than sit home and wait to see if you can't breathe the success rate is outstanding. My ENT Dr in Houston has turned her entire practice into treating covid positive patients (vaxed and unvaxed) early and aggressively. She's not loss one patient and less than .03% have entered the the hospital and not one in a ventilator. She openly shares her data, treatment and stats because she believes everyone should be treated and given the best chance.
Breathe MD Houston

[hypart]

Please take into consideration health care workers. While I no longer work in the ER, many of my friends still do. The 8 tests is really for them, and pilots, and so on. If you're, let's say a retired person in the Villages, and on Medicare, then this rule really doesn't apply to you.

[golfing eagles]

Bless your heart you really don't listen to anything but CNN, MSNBC and the 3 networks.

Ever wonder why Africa and other 3rd world countries are not completely over run by mass covid casualties since they cannot afford these extremely expensive vaccines? These 2 drugs have been used for decades and decades because they are cheap and effective antiviral drugs, used on and off label. I'm. Fascinated by the number of people and doctors that are terrified to actually treat covid. If you actually treat it early, rather than sit home and wait to see if you can't breathe the success rate is outstanding. My ENT Dr in Houston has turned her entire practice into treating covid positive patients (vaxed and unvaxed) early and aggressively. She's not loss one patient and less than .03% have entered the the hospital and not one in a ventilator. She openly shares her data, treatment and stats because she believes everyone should be treated and given the best chance.
Breathe MD Houston

Don't watch any of those, and if you review any of my posts you'll find I'm probably one of the least liberal posters here. That being said, dream on. Those meds were used for "decades and decades" in Africa for malaria and parasitic infections, as they were intended to, NOT any viruses much less COVID. And I'm sorry your ENT physician has morphed into a quack.

[golfing eagles]

Please take into consideration health care workers. While I no longer work in the ER, many of my friends still do. The 8 tests is really for them, and pilots, and so on. If you're, let's say a retired person in the Villages, and on Medicare, then this rule really doesn't apply to you.

In that case they should restrict distribution of these "free" tests to "health care workers, pilots, and so on". But, as you know, they will be available to the curious, the paranoid, and the "if it's free I want it" crowd as well.

[flyboyl39]

Google Dr Tess Laurie who is one of the top MRO Dr’s in the UK. Her and her team did an extensive review of all of the 26 Ivermectin trials. Their findings: if administered early Ivermectin prevents hospitalization and severe illness at an 85% rate. She presented their findings to the Government of the UK and were completely ignored. Remember this was not a crackpot or drug company backed study but one done by a top highly respected Dr and her team. They found that Ivermectin has broad anti viral properties along with anti inflammatory efficacy also . In fact they believe it may have uses against other viral infections going forward.

[jimjamuser]

:bigbow::bigbow::bigbow::bigbow:

WHY is correct. Unvaxed and for legitimate reasons (not that I need your permission).

Hubby tested ONCED, I have not been. No problems, no issues, no reason.

Even if either of us were to become symptomatic with the variant de jour, we would monitor pulse ox levels at fingertips and if issues required, seek treatment. Otherwise, we would do what we did when we got the Adenovirus at Lackland AFB, the Swine Flu as we dealt with it there as well; the Hong Kong flu in the 70's....not a single healthcare worker had a single vaccine, a single inoculation, hell truth be told, we did not even take the standard precautions of entering an MRSA pts room anymore. I feel blessed with the multiple exposures I have by being a military dependent, member and contract nurse after retirement.
Military bases are known to have on all their TVs, all the time, a certain channel that shall remain unnamed. This tends to seep into the subconscious slowly and unknowingly. Portugal is 90% vaccinated. Not so the US!

[golfing eagles]

Google Dr Tess Laurie who is one of the top MRO Dr’s in the UK. Her and her team did an extensive review of all of the 26 Ivermectin trials. Their findings: if administered early Ivermectin prevents hospitalization and severe illness at an 85% rate. She presented their findings to the Government of the UK and were completely ignored. Remember this was not a crackpot or drug company backed study but one done by a top highly respected Dr and her team. They found that Ivermectin has broad anti viral properties along with anti inflammatory efficacy also . In fact they believe it may have uses against other viral infections going forward.

I'm not going to bother to do that, the posts says it all----- a "review" of 26 Ivermectin trials. One would have to go and look at each trial, it's design, it's goal (which is usually suspect), outcomes, the researchers and any bias they may have. And then it is a retrospective review and not a prospective study. I have no idea who Tess Laurie is, but I suspect if she so highly respected and her "research" was so invaluable, it would not have been "ignored", but rather the lead article in the New England Journal of Medicine

[flyboyl39]

Interesting, for someone as educated as you are Doc I am surprised to hear that you are unwilling to review information that might contradict your opinion. I thought that the science and findings on this virus and it’s treatment were evolving on almost a daily basis. Also as a Dr you know who MRO Dr’s are, and how their job is to review findings of studies for accuracy and bias. So to dismiss her so quickly without review flies in the face of your background . As far as the UK ignoring her, well we all know the reason for that it doesn’t fit their agenda.

[golfing eagles]

Interesting, for someone as educated as you are Doc I am surprised to hear that you are unwilling to review information that might contradict your opinion. I thought that the science and findings on this virus and it’s treatment were evolving on almost a daily basis. Also as a Dr you know who MRO Dr’s are, and how their job is to review findings of studies for accuracy and bias. So to dismiss her so quickly without review flies in the face of your background . As far as the UK ignoring her, well we all know the reason for that it doesn’t fit their agenda.

So any individual or group/organization/government that disagrees with her findings has "an agenda"?????

[jimjamuser]

100% correct----If it were up to me I wouldn't allow anyone who is asymptomatic get tested, with the exception of travel requirements or plans to host a cocktail party indoors for 500 unmasked immunosuppressed transplant recipients.

While some people are getting tested because they genuinely don't want to take the chance of spreading the virus, most are just curious and will not do anything differently based on the results (just an opinion, it may be wrong)

But consider this---the asymptomatic people who test positive are NOT coughing, NOT spewing out virus, so unless they plan on exhaling forcefully 3 inches from someone's face, they are at minimal risk to spread COVID. Then, if that person is fully vaccinated and boosted, and the other party the same, the risk of transmission is very low, even with omicron. If they are both masked, it is close to zero

So, IMHO, testing just for the sake of testing on asymptomatic persons is a huge waste of time and money. Heck, even California is sending COVID positive healthcare workers back to work.
Ca. IS sending positive hospital workers back to work. But, it is NOT a GOOD situation. It is FAR from ideal - it is a reaction to a real-world crisis caused by a lack of hospital staff due to burnout. Like the 5-day back-to-work general CDC recommendation, hospitals MUST make many accommodations to the current surge that are not ideal.
.......Several eminent Doctors have stated that Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota hospitals will face SEVERE overcrowding soon in this surge. And that trend may flow south through the Midwest. One expert Doctor recently blamed the US's non-National Healthcare System for many of today's problems. That was the 1st that I have heard that spelled out - but, I understand it. Of course, a lot has been said about the inefficiency of the US's insurance-based system. Inefficiencies cost taxpayers money. One problem is that POOR, unvaxxed, and uninsured men and women are forced to go back to work ....untested and with symptoms. They MAY (?) survive this but they may take out an unvaccinated, older person with conditions.
........One glimmer of hope is that in a few weeks Omicron may burn itself out - hopefully! And we may have learned enough to do better IF and WHEN another variant comes along.

[jimjamuser]

https://c.tenor.com/9by5bUKRskMAAAAC/suckhole-lemmings.gif
Maybe all those people are seeking some (any(?)kind of shelter from an H-BOMB CLOUD headed their way. Just a possibility.

[jimjamuser]

Fake numbers, fake news. Check out the global mortality rate over the last 4 years. It has stayed consistently at .76%. So much for a contrived global "planned demic". What you should be asking is how many of these lives could have been spared by making Hydroxochloroquine and Ivermectin readily available.
hymmmm ????????

[jimjamuser]

Well, I was thinking "sheep", but lemmings also fits.

Craziness abounds. I was reading the other day where several states are now allowing COVID-positive workers to remain on their jobs in health care settings if they're showing "no or only mild symptoms". So does someone wanna take a stab at explaining just how firing totally healthy people who refuse to get vaccinated and then allowing people WITH COVID to work around sick and vulnerable people, makes any sense?
Principle over practicality. Now a RAPID SURGE has changed things. That is to say, "yesterday's answers are NOT today's answers".

[jimjamuser]

short answer-----ZERO
Agreed....zero. It was painful to even read that.

[JMintzer]

Bless your heart you really don't listen to anything but CNN, MSNBC and the 3 networks.

Ever wonder why Africa and other 3rd world countries are not completely over run by mass covid casualties since they cannot afford these extremely expensive vaccines? These 2 drugs have been used for decades and decades because they are cheap and effective antiviral drugs, used on and off label. I'm. Fascinated by the number of people and doctors that are terrified to actually treat covid. If you actually treat it early, rather than sit home and wait to see if you can't breathe the success rate is outstanding. My ENT Dr in Houston has turned her entire practice into treating covid positive patients (vaxed and unvaxed) early and aggressively. She's not loss one patient and less than .03% have entered the the hospital and not one in a ventilator. She openly shares her data, treatment and stats because she believes everyone should be treated and given the best chance.
Breathe MD Houston

Mass covid casualties in Africa?

They've only had about 230K deaths, in total...

[jimjamuser]

It appears many of you have not talked to your still working children. When they report being exposed they can’t go to work without a negative test. If the had covid they can’t go back until they have a negative test. Tests take over a week to even get scheduled & PCR tests another day. All the time they are at home not getting paid or using all their leave time. Same for school children. Easy to sit in our retired status making comments.
Apparently, the rest of the world, NOT just the US is having trouble getting enough tests. I do NOT know the answer to why that is? Maybe someone here does? I vaguely remember something about most test-making factories being in the US?????

[JMintzer]

Bless your heart you really don't listen to anything but CNN, MSNBC and the 3 networks.

Ever wonder why Africa and other 3rd world countries are not completely over run by mass covid casualties since they cannot afford these extremely expensive vaccines? These 2 drugs have been used for decades and decades because they are cheap and effective antiviral drugs, used on and off label. I'm. Fascinated by the number of people and doctors that are terrified to actually treat covid. If you actually treat it early, rather than sit home and wait to see if you can't breathe the success rate is outstanding. My ENT Dr in Houston has turned her entire practice into treating covid positive patients (vaxed and unvaxed) early and aggressively. She's not loss one patient and less than .03% have entered the the hospital and not one in a ventilator. She openly shares her data, treatment and stats because she believes everyone should be treated and given the best chance.
Breathe MD Houston

Bless your heart... You have no idea whom you're debating...

[jimjamuser]

Bless your heart you really don't listen to anything but CNN, MSNBC and the 3 networks.

Ever wonder why Africa and other 3rd world countries are not completely over run by mass covid casualties since they cannot afford these extremely expensive vaccines? These 2 drugs have been used for decades and decades because they are cheap and effective antiviral drugs, used on and off label. I'm. Fascinated by the number of people and doctors that are terrified to actually treat covid. If you actually treat it early, rather than sit home and wait to see if you can't breathe the success rate is outstanding. My ENT Dr in Houston has turned her entire practice into treating covid positive patients (vaxed and unvaxed) early and aggressively. She's not loss one patient and less than .03% have entered the the hospital and not one in a ventilator. She openly shares her data, treatment and stats because she believes everyone should be treated and given the best chance.
Breathe MD Houston
One of the reasons that Africa and 3rd world countries have fewer CV problems WITHOUT vaccines - is because they often as children played in the dirt and went barefoot. That exposed them to more virus varieties than the 1st world countries. So they developed more NATURAL immunity.
......There is another reason.....that I have less confidence in. But, some say that the 3rd world people have a protection brought about by HOOKWORMS, which MAY (?) have a symbiotic relationship with diseases and lessen their effect on the human host. I am just presenting that possibility - NOT making a yea or nay opinion on it. It is ABOVE my pay grade. Other TV Landers may know more?

[golfing eagles]

One of the reasons that Africa and 3rd world countries have fewer CV problems WITHOUT vaccines - is because they often as children played in the dirt and went barefoot. That exposed them to more virus varieties than the 1st world countries. So they developed more NATURAL immunity.
......There is another reason.....that I have less confidence in. But, some say that the 3rd world people have a protection brought about by HOOKWORMS, which MAY (?) have a symbiotic relationship with diseases and lessen their effect on the human host. I am just presenting that possibility - NOT making a yea or nay opinion on it. It is ABOVE my pay grade. Other TV Landers may know more?

Well, as to the first part I'm going to say yes and no. I'm not familiar with too many viruses that just hang out in the dirt waiting for a barefoot child to come along---most require some form of human to human contact to "be fruitful and multiply", or have animal reservoirs to hang out. But, I will say this, although I know of no formal study: It is the experience of most doctors that we spend most of our 3rd year of medical school ill with one kind of cold/flu/virus or another after coming into contact with real patients for the first time. Then, we seem to rarely get sick, so there may be something to the "strengthened immune system" theory (anecdotal observation only)

As to the second part, hookworms are ubiquitous---Ancylostoma duodenale in Europe and Necator americanus primarily in the warmer climates of the western hemisphere. So if true, I would expect to see the "hookworm effect" here as well as Europe (although to a lesser degree since our kids are more likely to have shoes). However, in the rural south of 50-150 years ago, hookworm was a significant cause of childhood anemia and even mental retardation

[Wyseguy]

Paid for by using other people's money :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Before the govt "came to help" by "saying" we would get 8 tests a month; before they got involved I had no problem buying as many at home tests as I needed. Now that they are here to help, there are no tests to be found. I am scheduled for a M.A.B. treatment tomorrow, even though I am not 100% positive that I have it. Can not wait too long or the treatment will not work.

[Koapaka]

Well congratulations for not being one of the 50,000,000+ who have tested positive, one of the 830,000+ who have died, one of the 145,000+ currently hospitalized, or one of the 1,500+ who won't live to see another day. Clearly, this program isn't for you. But, that will free up resources for those who haven't been as fortunate or who won't be as fortunate in the future.

Oh, those who are vaccinated very likely not need to worry about symptoms, ox levels, or where to seek treatment.

And yet I bet you money those fully vaxed are the very ones testing multiple times and keeping the test from being available for those that have REQUIREMENTS vs wants.
Again, no reason to test UNLESS symptomatic. Those that need them can't find them because of the "oh its free" attitude. Again, NOTHING is free.

[golfing eagles]

Before the govt "came to help" by "saying" we would get 8 tests a month; before they got involved I had no problem buying as many at home tests as I needed. Now that they are here to help, there are no tests to be found. I am scheduled for a M.A.B. treatment tomorrow, even though I am not 100% positive that I have it. Can not wait too long or the treatment will not work.

They are willing to give a person monoclonal antibody without a test?????

[Koapaka]

First hand experience.
Family member was working with a person who tested positive.
As a precaution the family member got tested. Surprise? They tested positive. No symptoms.....none.....not even a sniffle.
They are vaccinated and boosted.

Had they not been exposed and never tested, they would be going about their business as usual.

I am sure this is not an isolated incident!!

:bigbow:

They believe they are catching about 1/3 of actual cases for count...so if they tell you 1 million new cases reported, you can be fairly certain there are 2 others that fall exactly into the situation you describe above. The other thing is that MOST of the patients "hospitalized" with it were actually reporting to the hospital for something OTHER than symptoms. Incidental findings.

[jimjamuser]

Well, as to the first part I'm going to say yes and no. I'm not familiar with too many viruses that just hang out in the dirt waiting for a barefoot child to come along---most require some form of human to human contact to "be fruitful and multiply", or have animal reservoirs to hang out. But, I will say this, although I know of no formal study: It is the experience of most doctors that we spend most of our 3rd year of medical school ill with one kind of cold/flu/virus or another after coming into contact with real patients for the first time. Then, we seem to rarely get sick, so there may be something to the "strengthened immune system" theory (anecdotal observation only)

As to the second part, hookworms are ubiquitous---Ancylostoma duodenale in Europe and Necator americanus primarily in the warmer climates of the western hemisphere. So if true, I would expect to see the "hookworm effect" here as well as Europe (although to a lesser degree since our kids are more likely to have shoes). However, in the rural south of 50-150 years ago, hookworm was a significant cause of childhood anemia and even mental retardation
Thank you!

[Haggar]

Fake numbers, fake news. Check out the global mortality rate over the last 4 years. It has stayed consistently at .76%. So much for a contrived global "planned demic". What you should be asking is how many of these lives could have been spared by making Hydroxochloroquine and Ivermectin readily available.

Here are the number of deaths by year in the US:

2020 3,358,814
2019 2,854,838
2018 2,839,305

Life expectancy in 2019 -78.7 years, in 2020-77.0 years

Draw your own conclusions

[Altavia]

Knowing you test positive should you delay your next booster?

Why not give those who test positive an "immunity card " similar to the vaccine card?

[Altavia]

Before the govt "came to help" by "saying" we would get 8 tests a month; before they got involved I had no problem buying as many at home tests as I needed. Now that they are here to help, there are no tests to be found. I am scheduled for a M.A.B. treatment tomorrow, even though I am not 100% positive that I have it. Can not wait too long or the treatment will not work.

Testing to know if you could use M.A.B treatment is the main reason I would want to test.

A friend told me his wait due to availability was 5 days. He'll probably be ok by then ..

[Bill14564]

Knowing you test positive should you delay your next booster?

Why not give those who test positive an "immunity card " similar to the vaccine card?

Perhaps because a positive test does not provide any information about immunity.

[ex34449]

Well congratulations for not being one of the 50,000,000+ who have tested positive, one of the 830,000+ who have died, one of the 145,000+ currently hospitalized, or one of the 1,500+ who won't live to see another day. Clearly, this program isn't for you. But, that will free up resources for those who haven't been as fortunate or who won't be as fortunate in the future.

Oh, and those who are vaccinated will very likely not need to worry about symptoms, ox levels, or where to seek treatment.

How many of those were obese? (40%) Morbidly obese (18%) or just generally unfit?

[drducat]

Mass covid casualties in Africa?

They've only had about 230K deaths, in total...

Correct...............

[ex34449]

And I'm sure the accuracy of the reporting coming out of that continent is not to be questioned. haha

[golfing eagles]

And I'm sure the accuracy of the reporting coming out of that continent is not to be questioned. haha

Probably just about as accurate as the data coming from China:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[JMintzer]

Probably just about as accurate as the data coming from China:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Or the CDC... :popcorn:

[drducat]

Mass covid casualties in Africa?

They've only had about 230K deaths, in total...

Or the CDC... :popcorn:

CDC is no longer on the trust radar..They will never have anyone trusting much coming from them....Also FDA blew it bad...no longer to be trusted.....The WHO never was to be trusted...so where are we with this...who knows!:blahblahblah:

[golfing eagles]

CDC is no longer on the trust radar..They will never have anyone trusting much coming from them....Also FDA blew it bad...no longer to be trusted.....The WHO never was to be trusted...so where are we with this...who knows!:blahblahblah:

only the Shadow knows....... and of course TOTV:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[drducat]

only the Shadow knows....... and of course TOTV:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

How long can you test positive after a COVID-19 test? - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZb7AOCYIg&t=31s)

[drducat]

How long can you test positive after a COVID-19 test? - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZb7AOCYIg&t=31s)

If you get one of thsese..toss it!

Stop Using LuSys Laboratories COVID-19 Tests: FDA Safety Communication | FDA (https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/stop-using-lusys-laboratories-covid-19-tests-fda-safety-communication#falseresults)

[drducat]

If you get one of thsese..toss it!

Stop Using LuSys Laboratories COVID-19 Tests: FDA Safety Communication | FDA (https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/stop-using-lusys-laboratories-covid-19-tests-fda-safety-communication#falseresults)

Just found out an additional 500 million tests have been ordered...so that is on top of the original 500 million....someone wants to make sure a bunch of positive test appear quick....wonder why?

[Byte1]

Save money and use the Canadian method of Covid testing.
Open a beer
Smell the beer
Taste the beer
Can you smell and taste the beer?
Just to make sure, repeat this test several times. If you get the same result, that you can smell and taste the beer, you don't have Covid.
The next day, if you wake up with a headache, you may want to start testing over again.

[Altavia]

Perhaps because a positive test does not provide any information about immunity.

I'm fairly confident if someone catches COVID they have immunity no worse than those who received the vaccine.

[golfing eagles]

I'm fairly confident if someone catches COVID they have immunity no worse than those who received the vaccine.

And your education, experience, and clinical acumen for that degree of confidence is.......???????

[JMintzer]

Just found out an additional 500 million tests have been ordered...so that is on top of the original 500 million....someone wants to make sure a bunch of positive test appear quick....wonder why?

Pretty sure it's the same 500 million that were never ordered in the first place...

[drducat]

Pretty sure it's the same 500 million that were never ordered in the first place...

Biden Says U.S. to Procure 500 Million More Covid-19 Tests - WSJ (https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-say-u-s-will-procure-500-million-more-covid-19-tests-11642087333)

WASHINGTON—President Biden said he is directing his administration to procure 500 million additional at-home rapid Covid-19 tests to meet demand around the country, doubling the number of tests the U.S. plans to send to the public free of charge.

“That means a billion tests in total to meet future demand,” Mr. Biden said at the White House on Thursday. He added that he plans next week to detail a plan to provide free masks to Americans.

[JMintzer]

Biden Says U.S. to Procure 500 Million More Covid-19 Tests - WSJ (https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-say-u-s-will-procure-500-million-more-covid-19-tests-11642087333)

WASHINGTON—President Biden said he is directing his administration to procure 500 million additional at-home rapid Covid-19 tests to meet demand around the country, doubling the number of tests the U.S. plans to send to the public free of charge.

“That means a billion tests in total to meet future demand,” Mr. Biden said at the White House on Thursday. He added that he plans next week to detail a plan to provide free masks to Americans.

Interesting. I haven't seen the news today.

But this is hysterical, especially since they still haven't finalized the INITIAL 1/2 a Billion tests (at leas as of yesterday...)

[Altavia]

And your education, experience, and clinical acumen for that degree of confidence is.......???????

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.04.21267114v1.full.pdf

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 provides substantial natural immunity against reinfection. Recent studies have shown strong waning of the immunity provided by the BNT162b2 vaccine. The time course of natural and hybrid immunity is unknown.

METHODS
Data on confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections were extracted from the Israeli Ministry of Health database for the period August to September 2021 regarding all persons previously infected or vaccinated. We compared infection rates as a function of time since the last immunity-conferring event using Poisson regression, adjusting for possible confounding factors.

RESULTS
Confirmed infection rates increased according to time elapsed since the last immunity-conferring event in all cohorts. For unvaccinated previously infected individuals they increased from 10.5 per 100,000 risk-days for those previously infected 4-6 months ago to 30.2 for those previously infected over a year ago. For individuals receiving a single dose following prior infection they increased from 3.7 per 100,000 person days among those vaccinated in the past two months to 11.6 for those vaccinated over 6 months ago. For vaccinated previously uninfected individuals the rate per 100,000 person days increased from 21.1 for persons vaccinated within the first two months to 88.9 for those vaccinated more than 6 months ago.

CONCLUSIONS
Protection from reinfection decreases with time since previous infection, but is, nevertheless, higher than that conferred by vaccination with two doses at a similar time since the last immunity-conferring event. A single vaccine dose after infection helps to restore protection

Duration of SARS-CoV-2 Natural Immunity and Protection against the Delta Variant: A Retrospective Cohort Study - PubMed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34864907/)

Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 infection is highly protective against reinfection with the Delta variant. Immunity from prior infection lasts for at least 13 months. Countries facing vaccine shortages should consider delaying vaccinations for previously infected patients to increase access.

Necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected individuals | medRxiv (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176v3)

Summary Cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was examined among 52238 employees in an American healthcare system. COVID-19 did not occur in anyone over the five months of the study among 2579 individuals previously infected with COVID-19, including 1359 who did not take the vaccine.


https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2110300

Protection by previous SARS-CoV-2 infection against reinfection with the beta variant was observed, even 1 year after the primary infection, but protection was slightly lower than that against the alpha variant and wild-type virus circulating in Qatar.3-5 These findings give some insights into the hypothesis that natural immunity may provide protection against known variants of concern.

Omicron Scare: Is WHO Ignoring Natural Immunity To Promote Covid-19 Vaccines? (https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-omicron-scare-is-who-ignoring-importance-of-natural-immunity-to-promote-covid-19-vaccines/407588)

"Real world population studies from Israel after the rollout of vaccination has established that such naturally acquired immunity is 13 times more robust than that induced by vaccines. Translating this in practice one can say that a person who has recovered from a natural infection has already received 13 boosters! Why can’t the WHO see this and include it into its advisories?” Banerjee said.

He added, “Stands to common sense, even if we ignore the science, which is all too frequent in this pandemic. One who catches the infection harbours the whole virus for roughly 13 days in the body. Vaccine tries to mimic this by injecting a dose of attenuated part of the virus or with newly developed technology gene-based vaccine which stimulates the body to produce only part of the viral component – the spike protein. A double injection of the vaccine and a booster makes three, not thirteen!”

...

"It looks WHO is confused. On one side they are saying both vaccine and natural immunity provides equal protection, on the other, they are not ready to agree to consider those who recovered from infection as already immunized. In fact, real study data indicates natural infection elicits far better immune responses and protection,” Prof Das said.

https://techstartups.com/2021/12/14/new-study-6-million-people-israel-found-natural-immunity-far-superior-vaccines-mrna-vaccine-protection-covid-also-far-weaker-natural-immunity/

[Topspinmo]

So much mis-information spread on Faux news and social media, and people bought into that nonsense. Maybe people finally got it through their heads that the virus is deadly, after over 3/4 of a million people have died.


Political bias opinion, moderator?

[golfing eagles]

I'm fairly confident if someone catches COVID they have immunity no worse than those who received the vaccine.

And your education, experience, and clinical acumen for that degree of confidence is.......???????

Never said I disagreed with the statement......:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[Byte1]

"never let a good crisis go to waste"

I believe it was one of our resident medical professional posters that said that the more tests being conducted will boost the number of positive infection numbers on record. If everyone was given "8" test kits and out of those "8" tests, one was positive and the rest negative, the numbers on record would still go up as another infection. For those that panic every time they see on the media that another hundred thousand infections have been reported, take that into consideration. I am not suggesting that covid is not real. I am only suggesting, as has been suggested by others that they need a better system of counting infections.
An expert on here (and we seem to have many) can correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember that a person can show NO symptoms of TB, yet still test positive on a TB test. I was told that you could (correct me if I am wrong) test positive for TB yet not have TB. That it could indicate that you had been exposed to TB by someone that you were in contact with. If that makes any sense.
My only interest in COVID reporting has to do with the hospitalizations due ONLY to Covid and the deaths due solely to Covid. This other stuff regarding, he was tested at the hospital when he was admitted for a heart attack, or for a stroke, etc. does not totally mean he died or was hospitalized due to COVID. It might have been a contributing factor, but not the root cause. Kind of like the infamous report about the death of a motorcyclist in an accident being contributed to Covid.
But, I digress once again.
I have no use for a Covid test. I do not need it for employment, a cruise or any other international travel. Am I curious? Why? I was told to have confidence in the vaccination, so I am confident that not only will I not catch COvid but that even if I do, I won't die because of it. I am at an age where I could die from OLD AGE, and I am sure that the powers that be would label the cause as Covid if they test me, but I guess that won't matter much by then.

[Bay Kid]

Somebody is getting real rich off all these FREE test kits.

[golfing eagles]

Somebody is getting real rich off all these FREE test kits.

and a whole bunch of taxpayers are getting poorer

[Spalumbos62]

Why did you start this?

The question is why did he not stop it?

[RPDaly]

I will leave them in the butt bin at the mail stop if anyone wants mine

[Spalumbos62]

So any individual or group/organization/government that disagrees with her findings has "an agenda"?????

Oh come on...you can do better than that agenda response. You two had a interesting banter going there and you responded with something so
" mousey"
You should of responded with a word that was misspelled.....you see that allot here....they don't have a good rebuttal so they use the old spelling error line.
The audience is booing and walking away.

[Bill14564]

I'm fairly confident if someone catches COVID they have immunity no worse than those who received the vaccine.

Your statement wasn't about catching Covid, your statement was about a positive test result.

If someone survives a symptomatic case of Covid then they very likely developed antibodies. I don't believe the blue line (or whatever the indication is) on the at-home test says the same thing.

[JMintzer]

Political bias opinion, moderator?

That's not how you report a post. You're assuming they read every single post. They don't...

[JMintzer]

Oh come on...you can do better than that agenda response. You two had a interesting banter going there and you responded with something so
" mousey"
You should of responded with a word that was misspelled.....you see that allot here....they don't have a good rebuttal so they use the old spelling error line.
The audience is booing and walking away.

*a lot... :icon_wink:

[Bay Kid]

and a whole bunch of taxpayers are getting poorer

Nothing is for FREE. Somebody is paying for all the FREE stuff.

[Altavia]

Nothing is for FREE. Somebody is paying for all the FREE stuff.

Another way to look at it.

Assuming (YMMV) the average cost of a hospital stay at 100K and a per test cost of $5, break even would be saving one hospital stay for every 20,000 tests.

[JMintzer]

Another way to look at it.

Assuming (YMMV) the average cost of a hospital stay at 100K and a per test cost of $5, break even would be saving one hospital stay for every 20,000 tests.

Strange assumption. A test will prevent hospitalization?

[Byte1]

Just wondering, on the home test kits do you just pee on them and wait for the results or what?

Just kidding.........:1rotfl:

[Babubhat]

COVIDtests.gov - Free at-home COVID-19 tests (https://www.covidtests.gov/)

[Altavia]

Strange assumption. A test will prevent hospitalization?

Omicron infection rate has been reported to be up to 70 fold greater.

If 30% of people positive self isolate, what's the impact on infection rate?

And then hospitalization?

[JMintzer]

Just wondering, on the home test kits do you just pee on them and wait for the results or what?

Just kidding.........:1rotfl:

Funny, but after I had Covid (waaaaay back at the end of February 2020, with minimal symptoms), there were no tests available, unless you had a fever of 101° , or trouble breathing, neither of which applied to me...), I took an antibody test when they first became available (about 2-3 months later)...

The lab tech (who's upstairs in my building and knows me), hand carried the test results to me in my office (I was the first case they'd seen, and they were excited to let me know).

I called my wife to let her know. I said, "I got the test results... I'm pregnant!"

[Byte1]

Well, as far as we (spouse and myself) you can give our 16 test kits to the hospital. I think the medical professionals need it more than we do. If we think we have the dreaded Covid, we will seek medical assistance. It won't do me any good to self test if I have some form of illness with some type of crippling symptoms. I've had my shots, will not be traveling or cruising or employed and if anyone wishes to visit me, they can take their chances that we are not infected.

[Koapaka]

Pretty sure it's the same 500 million that were never ordered in the first place...

Making one wonder where DID all that money go?????

[Djean1981]

Yep. We are all old enough to know that nothing is free. Medical insurance costs will rise. Insurance should only be involved if one is Ill.

[Bay Kid]

Making one wonder where DID all that money go?????

There is ALOT of missing money, as usual.

[davem4616]

right now...if the Godfather were still alive, he'd be asking, "How did we ever let things get so out of hand?"