Community Chat

[Lali1]

I noticed there are two I have seen in my town. My town is quite large and I haven't been out of my little area so I don't know about any others. I drove by one at a school when I went to get my dogs meds. There was no one in line. There's one in the Walmart lot where I pickup groceries but I have never seen anyone working there or waiting. I suppose this is a positive. How is your area? 

[ScrapHappy]

There are several in my area.  But there also has been a lot of confusion about going.  We're told "anyone can get tested" and at no cost.  Just drive up.  But the local news did an undercover story and found that wasn't true.  They found you either had to have symptoms, or known have been exposed or high risk (like medical personel).  You can't just drive up, you need an appointment and have to do it on line, which seems not so easy to navigate.  And the undercover news man went to three sites being charge anywhere from $40 to $300.  

[suzyQ3]

My only experience is that CVS is on my walking route. The most I've seen in line is maybe four or five cars.

[SunSprite]

My experience has been the same as @ScrapHappy . 

You hear it on our local news all the time; free testing, everyone can get tested, blah blah blah. Until you try to do it. You have to have been prescreened and met the criteria for needing testing, to make it to the stage of actually getting the test. 

Disingenuous at best. 

[QueenDanceALot]

I got a test at a drive through site about 6 weeks or so ago.  I signed up online, this particular site would test anyone, with or without symptoms or any health issues (not all sites tested those without symptoms or health issues - these things were specified on the Kroger website), and it was free.  I plan to test again just before I go back to work and regularly thereafter.

I signed up for an early appointment, and when I finished there was a very long line waiting to test.  But there are many more sites now and I don't think the lines are as long because of it.  My state wants to keep testing 2% of the population and so far is testing higher than that.

So, my experience (and those of some friends) was not like the "investigative report".

[esmerelda]

@QueenDanceALot Why the regular retesting?  Why not wait for a symptom or two. Because it's free?

[QueenDanceALot]

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@esmerelda wrote:

@QueenDanceALot Why the regular retesting?  Why not wait for a symptom or two. Because it's free?

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@esmerelda 

Because I work in close proximity with people and pre-symptomatic people can be very contagious.

I think it's the responsible thing to do.

[Drythe]

My state is having trouble getting the reagents.  🤔

So testing numbers are NOT up.  

Nevertheless the positive ratio has doubled.

[esmerelda]

@QueenDanceALot  Isn't everyone presymptomatic if they don't have symptoms?

Won't you skew the test numbers, or will they know it's you over and over again?

If it wasn't free, how much would you be willing to pay to be tested each time?

[bikerbabe]

@esmerelda

I recommend regular testing to patients who have ongoing close contact with non household members. I believe @QueenDanceALot is a personal trainer (?) so she would fall into that category. It’s also a CDC recommendation. Is it a perfect system? No. But it does catch some carriers of the virus and it does help reduce spread.