My 'Free' Covid Tests From the Government Arrived in Record Time... But There's a Problem

PJ Media ^ | 01/22/2022 | Paula Bolyard

[SeekAndFind]

First, credit where it’s due. I ordered my “free” (more on that in a moment) COVID-19 tests from the federal government on Wednesday and they arrived via USPS on Saturday. The ordering process was seamless (for me, not so much for the unlucky folks living in apartments) and the website didn’t crash and burn like the infamous $840 million ObamaCare website debacle. So, congratulations to all the people who made that happen — the IT professionals, the folks who were in charge of logistics, and the oft-maligned USPS (which the left will tell you Trump “gutted”).

I received four test kits, the necessary supplies to conduct them, and an instruction booklet. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, there was a problem. The instructions on the box and on the enclosed instruction booklet say the tests must be stored at temperatures between 36-86 °F.

 

My tests sat in my mailbox all day in frigid temperatures—well below the required minimum 36°.

PJM’s Athena Thorne warned about this problem last week:

CBS affiliate KREM looked into that very issue. “Do cold temperatures affect the results of an at-home COVID antigen test?” they wondered. They concluded that “The answer may vary depending on the brand,” before going on to list the storage temperature requirements for the leading test brands. Spoiler alert: the lowest temperature the most cold-tolerant of them can be stored at is 35.6º F. Tests that have been stored outside the recommended temperature parameters might still work … sometimes … or they might not.

[SeekAndFind]

THE AUTHOR ALSO SAID:

I wasn’t able to track down any information from test manufacturer Roche Diagnostics or the FDA about what happens when the tests are exposed to extreme temperatures, but I did find a paper at the Journal of Clinical Virology that found “Impaired performance of SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests at elevated and low temperatures”:

In summary, elevated temperatures impair sensitivity, whereas low temperatures impair specificity of SARS-CoV-2 Ag-RDTs [antigen detection rapid diagnostic test]. Consequences may include false-negative test results at clinically relevant virus concentrations compatible with transmission and false-positive results entailing unwarranted quarantine assignments. Storage and operation of SARS-CoV-2 Ag-RDTs at recommended conditions is essential for successful usage during the pandemic.

[Mr. K]

Another Biden cluster f*ck

[frank ballenger]

I ordered my “free” (more on that in a moment) COVID-19 tests from the federal government

Everything's free in America

For a small fee in America.

America by Leonard Bernstein in West Side Story

[Col Frank Slade]

And in the summer they can sit in a hot mailbox for days if the people aren’t home, on vacation, etc.

[frank ballenger]

With the closing of retail stores by pro-internet people (not me) many things sit in a mail truck while the employee smokes a joint, flirts with someone, has a long lunch, and then delivers to a freezing cold (or direct sunlight hot) mail box outside. For hours and hours until you look inside. Especially for apartment buildings.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

Were these manufactured in China.

[rktman]

Do like some others. Order them and pitch them in the wheely bin once they arrive. Your tax dollars so you can pitch them if you want. Or, sell them to folks that “just have to know!!!!”.

🔬😨😷💉🐂💨💩💸

[TexasGator]

“With the closing of retail stores by pro-internet people (not me) “

Capacitor for my pool pump:

Pinch-A-Penny $39.95

On-line $3.98 including shipping

[discostu]

There’s always gonna be some part of the country that’s outside “proper” storage bounds. Living in Tucson which is on the high side for almost everything that has storage advice 9 to 10 months a year I’ve found most things are fine. It can do a couple hours, it’s weeks that messes stuff up.

[ncfool]

Yes of course they were in order for hunter to get his commission.

[Kipp]

And in the summer they can sit in a hot mailbox for days if the people aren’t home, on vacation, etc.

Not just in summer. It's been 65 degrees where I am. A half hour in the sun and the car's at 95. (https://goodcalculators.com/inside-car-temperature-calculator/)

I imagine tests shipped to drug stores have also been exposed to temperatures outside the given storage range.

[cockroach_magoo]

See? Central planning works, when those in charge are our betters.

[frank ballenger]

Yes, it’s a wonderful world now. You’re mostly right.

Sink mat, supplement capsules, shoe orthotics and many more items available online for less-—or only place left to get them.

I tried to get one of those coffee mug warmers with a coil and a cord. They sent one about 9 inches long. Never specified. Finally got another elsewhere that fits in mug.

Before Amazon finally added description lines for most, not all, items, I got probably three or four “books” about Bob Dylan that were 15-30 pages long booklets. Now I watch for that line (only added after complaints, I’m sure) where Amazon says 4 by 6 inch book or 7 by 9 inch. And 280 pages or 14 pages.

[cableguymn]

No worries. It was only -20 here not to long ago.

Does that make it show a positive?

[miserare]

Caveat Emptor.

Especially online.

[PastorBooks]

It is said that the swabs have nanoparticles on the tips to be deposited near your brain stem.

If these are harmless swabs, why can’t they be frozen?

It sounds to me that there is technology here, at nanoscale, too small to see, that can’t take cold or heat.

[AppyPappy]

I think they mean for a long period of time.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I’m tired of being taxed to pay for freeloaders to get things from the government.

[reasonisfaith]

The mistake here is to assume any of this is scientific or logical.

[cgbg]

I believe in “paying it forward”.

Send them to Santa Claus in North Pole, Alaska.

The current temperature there is 6 degrees.

Then they won’t do anything, but remember—it is the thought that counts!