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Comment by kingcharles | Hacker News Reader

I wish it worked for me. My home has three separate addresses (it's a corner property), but USPS won't accept any of them. One it says is a commercial property and they won't deliver the COVID tests to there, and the other two it says don't exist. Despite the fact I get mail at all three addresses every day.

I can't leave my home to get a COVID test because I am on house arrest, so I guess I am just out of luck.

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I'm half trolling here, but if you can't leave your home, why would you need a COVID test?

I don't think that's a troll question, but I could imagine a situation where you're a high risk demographic you'd want to know early so you can get early treatment like monoclonal antibodies, paxlovid or ivermectin.

I know this is not the main point of this thread, but please do not use ivermectin for Covid.

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-shoul...

Please don't spout trolling medical advice. Deworming medicine like Ivermectin does not treat COVID-19.

https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article-abstract/114/10/721/6...

> Based on very low to moderate quality of evidence, ivermectin was not efficacious at managing COVID-19. Its safety profile permits its use in trial settings to further clarify its role in COVID-19 treatment.

It does treat it if you have worms, since those increase the risk of severe COVID outcomes.

I don't know about OPs situation, but house arrest often allows for basic movement (groceries, court cases, etc). The list is strictly defined and the law may not allow for covid tests.

Because people visit him at his house, and he'd like to ensure that he isn't spreading it between visitors?

these tests are antigen tests, correct? If so he'll know he's sick no matter what as antigen tests aren't going to show covid until a couple days after symptoms start (typically).

You know there are illnesses out there (this is the season) that aren't COVID? My daughter had a temperature & sniffles and a negative test 3 days and 5 days after symptoms started. She just had a cold.

We wouldn't have sent her back to school as early if she wasn't showing negative.

I understand your point, but I assumed someone on house arrest wasn't someones child and is probably in a position to avoid contact with people with any symptoms no matter the illness.

This isn't quite correct. Antigen tests will show covid at approximately the same viral load as is needed to be contagious. Essentially, it's a test of whether you can spread covid today.

here's a good read on the details for anyone wanting a nerdy amount of details for antigen testing https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/antigen-tests...

> antigen tests aren't going to show covid until a couple days after symptoms start (typically)

This is false? It was definitely false pre-Omicron and my understanding is that it's still false.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.08.22268954v...

> sensitivity was 97.6% (95% CI 95-100%) for persons with symptoms.

Maybe you're saying my claim is exaggerated? Which I agree my wording wasn't precise. With antigen tests you'll have far more false negatives early on than later. The sweet spot seems to be a couple of days after symptoms.

If you're not saying that, I'm not sure what claim you're making that is contrary to my own.

The antigen test is supposed to show if you're currently spreading covid, which is a little different from experiencing it. You'll have symptoms for a while after you stop being infectious too.

With omicron the gap between them is a day or two smaller IIRC.

Personal experience - I started testing positive 1 day after onset of symptoms and my wife 5 days after. We started having typical omicron symptoms at the same time (low grade fever, etc)

Exceptions are sometimes made for people on house arrest to allow them to go to work and/or school.

I live in a big commercial building which is very busy (I'm like the live-in, permanently-available supervisor - house arrest has its uses!). I don't want to give COVID to anyone. I had COVID in jail in March 2020 and it was horrid. I felt like I had it again, so I wanted to get tested.

Have you talked to your local postmaster about this? This sounds like an issue they would be able to help resolve. No matter where I've lived, I've found them extremely helpful whenever I had to deal with them.

If you are on house arrest, are you allowed to get groceries or go to the doctor? Serious question.

It's a case by case thing. If you live with others they may be expected to do the shopping for you.

It's a good question.

So, by default, where I live in Chicago you can't do anything at all. I was told by the Sheriff not to even leave my bedroom for any reason when I first got here. I live in a big commercial building, so I ignored their advice. I have an ankle monitor which uses GPS and cell network triangulation, so they know my rough position at all times. This means they knew I was wandering around, taking my dog for a walk around the building etc. The Sheriff would send people over constantly to harass me. I did a FOIA request to see their logs and it was funny to see that they have police constantly tagging my movements with quotes which basically say "Look, this guy isn't going anywhere, he is just walking around his building, we don't need to bother him" - but obviously there are dozens of different people working at the HQ and some aren't so kind.

I think it took over two months before I persuaded the judge to let me get groceries and go to the laundromat. So I have two hours on Mon/Tues/Thurs to get what I need. But I am supposed to go straight there and straight back.

There is a new law in Illinois which says I get two days a week to do what I want, but apparently because of poor coding in their computer system I can't get it because my jail ID ends in an odd number.

It is also a new law now that they can't charge you with "prison escape" for going outside your house unless you are gone for more than 48 hours. [people ended up with years in prison simply for taking their trash to the Dumpster behind their house]

tl;dr: I can now, after some hassle, get groceries. I cannot go to the doctor. When I needed my booster I timed the appointment so I could run into Walgreens on the way to the grocery store so they didn't notice I'd taken a detour. It might take me several months to get the judge to sign off on a doctor's appointment. If I'm dying I can go to the hospital, but I better have every scrap of paperwork and be willing to prove I was actually dying as I've known a couple of people who have ended up going back to jail after going to the hospital. [one guy took his daughter in an emergency - the judge told him he had no excuse for taking her as he could have just called an ambulance to take her and stayed at home]

I was given stats today: about 40% of those in Chicago on house arrest cannot leave their home for any reason whatsoever. No groceries, no walking the dog, no taking out their rubbish, no fresh air, no doctors appointments. Nothing.

> so I guess I am just out of luck

I'm sorry this isn't working for you. I've had luck ordering them on amazon though.

this is a known problem that they’ll hopefully have sorted out soon

that people on house arrest cant get tested? or the deliveries? because one problem has been around for over two years...

the test deliveries, there’s a known issue with some apartment numbers and people that live in the same building as businesses

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