It's hard to get a PCR test done, and it's almost impossible to find Rapid Antigen/lateral flow tests. The Australian government and media keep saying that this is a "worldwide problem", but it's hard to know what to believe anymore.
Is there a shortage of rapid tests in your country? How hard is it to get a PCR test?
Rapid tests are sold out at most pharmacies. When we thought my wife might have it we didn't bother looking.
I work at Cornell University and I can schedule a test at one of several centers on campus the next day at a specific time like Disney's Fastpass. It is fast and convenient.
Well, I used to be able to schedule a test like that, but I turned up positive and I'm not allowed to go back to get tested for 90 days because they say I might test positive despite being non-infectious.
The Tompkins County Health Department together with the hospital runs a highly efficient operation at the mall, right next to the mass vaccination center. It's more hassle than Cornell but still easy. It's free too.
Similarly cannot get rapid test kits at drug or department stores. I too heard this was due to our government pushing for a "warp speed" vaccine plan but not focusing as much on testing. I am holding out for the 4x free USPS rapid tests [0].
Free PCR test collection sites are plentiful though appointment slots are not. Some used to have walk-in or drive-up options but nearly all require appointments. Many of the chain drug stores (CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid) listed on this HHS page [1] only allow booking 3 days in advance of which there will be zero availability. Shy of paying possibly $50-100 for a slightly faster result or commuting farther (as some folks did in a recent NPR Planet Money podcast episode [2]) I found Covid Clinic, which I have used to test a few times a week over the past few months since I currently work in person. [3]
To get a test, select any site and time slot, fill out (lengthy) form and you are given an order number. Go to any other Covid Clinic site with that order number any time they are open and they will test you. I've walked or driven up to 5-6 different sites in my area and never have been turned away for being at the wrong site or not having an appointment. I'm usually driving off in 10 minutes from checking in (confirming your order number, name, birthday, email, phone and that you want the free PCR test) and at most sites in my area, there are 1-5 people ahead of me during lunch or after work. Then email you a PDF attached with your result. No account, no password, quite straight forward compared to the competition (except for their lengthy sign up form).
The caveats are that test results that used to come back in 24-28 hours like clockwork before the omicron surge now take 5 days or more, but I have heard this is common even with other testing companies. I also waited 2 hours in line a few days prior to Christmas and New Year's, and had to submit the form several times before it provided an order number due to a likely traffic surge. Now I just sign up 2-3 times at the start of the week and use those order numbers when I arrive (they seem to at least last 5 days).
[0] https://special.usps.com/testkits [1] https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/community-based-testing-site... [2] https://www.npr.org/2022/01/14/1073227859/the-rapid-testing-... [3] https://covidclinic.org
> Is there a shortage of rapid tests in your country?
No. Available in large numbers at my local supermarket for 3 euro a pop. Multipacks tend to work out to 2 euro each. There's no subsidy in operation; the government threatened a subsidy, and the retailers immediately dropped their prices from 6 euro or so. (I'm kind of hoping the government use this newly-discovered super-power more for high-margin over-the-counter medical stuff...)
I suspect that the shortages in some countries (the US and apparently Australia) vs the abundance in Europe are largely based on what has been approved by the regulators. The tests I get these days are made in China; they're a licensed copy of a German test.
If you're a close contact, the health service will send you a pack of five for free.
Over the holidays (when omicron was starting to peak in Ireland and a lot of people were traveling and socializing) there were sporadic availability problems, but they were super-local (eg my local supermarket had none for a week but the pharmacy literally next door to it had loads).
> How hard is it to get a PCR test?
If you're aged under 12 or over 40, easy; sign up on the website and you'll get an appointment. Again, at the peak, this was oversubscribed. If you're between 12 and 40 (and have no comorbidities), you need a positive antigen test before you're allowed book a PCR test (though I would expect this to go away as pressure on the system eases; it was a temporary measure brought in near the peak).
That's health service PCR testing; you can get a private PCR test even if you're 12-40 with no qualification, but you'd have to pay.
Rapid PCR and molecular tests are available through multiple local pharmacies, if you know that they have testing available and you sign up on their site. Results can be had in an hour.
National chain pharmacies (e.g., Walgreens and CVS) also do rapid antigen tests, but I think for PCR and molecular tests they have to send those out to be processed somewhere else, and results can take days to come back.
There are also rapid molecular tests you can buy online, if you’re resourceful. Detect.com has one, but they put up new batches of test kits for sale at 11:00:00am EST, and by 11:00:05am EST they are sold out. They also have test hubs that they sell which also include one test kit (the hub is re-usable), but they are also frequently sold out.
On Amazon.com, you can buy test kits from Lucira, which have a hub that is not re-usable. Those haven’t been sold out, so far as I can tell. But both Detect.com and Lucira tests are rapid molecular, and give you results in about an hour.
Some employers (like Google) are buying test kits for their employees.
The USPS is also going to start distributing test kits at some point in the near future. Haven’t heard much real-world boot-on-the ground results from that effort.
- Rapid test (antigen test by a professional): free in most cases, 22€ otherwise, usually easy to get tested the same day, but lines can be sometimes long if you don't have an appointment
- Self tests: 2-5€, often out of stock.
- PCR tests: free in most cases, 44€ otherwise, may take a few days to have an appointment, plus a day for the results
Anyone can get tested for any reason, but contact cases, prescriptions, and people with symptoms are supposed to have priority.
The incidence rate in France is crazy at the moment, almost 4000, and while I will not say today is the easiest time for getting tested, if you want, you can. If anything, such a high incidence rate means that testing capacity is not that bad. Positivity rate is around 26%.
Government recommendations regarding testing are a huge mess however. They keep changing, they call for self tests that are unavailable, they are different depending on your vaccination status and age, etc...
Recent free government PCR with swab pharmacy took 3 weeks to return results (lol). Private clinics fine, but expensive ~$150+.
No rapid tests kits for purchase, can do at pharmacy or private clinics for inflated prices ~$40 per test. I think 100M kits landed in early Jan, don't know how they're being allocated.
Meanwhile, colleague from Abu Dhabi, UAE has ~$10 PCR tests with less than 12 hour turn around for their surprisingly well managed vaccine passport app. His household has racked up over 500 PCR tests (for travel between emirates), most of it free since beginning of pandemic.
Rapid tests are everywhere (both places you can go and have one done for free, and at-home tests to buy for 2-3€).
Availability of free PCR tests has been an issue, and will very likely be restricted more (before you could get a free PCR if you had a known risk contact or a positive test at home, it sounds like that's only going to be a thing for some groups of people now), which is widely seen as an embarrassing failure of public policy. Private testing places will do paid PCRs, not sure how overbooked or not they are.
Test are available in Pharmacies. Govt is also providing free testing.