Thread by @studentactivism

Govt: "Sign up for free tests!"
Me: "Great! How many?"
Govt: "Four."
Me: "Per day, per week, per month?"
Govt: "Four tests."
Me: "Four tests per person isn't much."
Govt: "Per household."
Me:
Govt: "Please allow two weeks for delivery."
Me:

I've said before that to be effective in suppression transmission of disease, tests need to be convenient and plentiful enough that you feel comfortable taking one on a whim.

My partner read a tweet about weird omicron symptoms, went "huh," and took a test. Because she did, me and my kids didn't get exposed the next day. "Four per household, one time" doesn't get you to regular testing.

Hell, if tests are scarce, you may NEVER take the few that you have, saving them for some more-critical moment in the future. Or you may wait until you're obviously sick, and have already infected your family.

And a two-week lag means that the program is worthless—literally worthless—to people who don't seek out tests until they're exposed. You can't be like "Oh, hell, my mom got sick two days after I visited her. I'll isolate for a couple of days, then test."

And the fact that this website isn't even taking orders until the 365th day of the Biden Administration is a cruel, ugly joke.

And I'd like to remind the people tweeting "they're trying, give them slack" at me about the time when Jen Psaki mocked the idea of mailing out free tests, then got a huge amount blowback, at which point the government decided to mail out free tests.

One thing this administration seems to be occasionally responsive to is widespread anger and condemnation. Just saying, they've got a track record on this stuff.

Thread from a month ago about why it's so important to make tests so freely available that nobody needs to hoard them:

https://twitter.com/studentactivism/status/1468040411436494853

"Too many tests" is not a concept I consider meaningful.