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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Department of Health on Tuesday said it was putting restrictions on the availability of rapid tests for COVID-19 at state and local health department testing sites “due to high demand and a national shortage of rapid test kits.”
Effective immediately, the department said, rapid tests at state and local health department testing sites will be available only to individuals aged 18 and younger and to symptomatic individuals aged 50 and older.
“This change is necessary due to the national shortage of rapid antigen tests and is designed to help ensure that students can stay in school and that Hoosiers who are most likely to need a monoclonal antibody are identified within the prescribed window in which they can be administered,” the health department said.
Indiana typically uses about 50,000 rapid tests per week, but is only guaranteed to receive 11,000 a week from the federal government at this time, the department said.
The state said appointments for rapid tests previously scheduled for Tuesday only will be honored while testing supplies last. PCR tests, which are the most accurate tests, will continue to be offered at state testing sites, with results expected in two to three days.
Additionally, the health department said it would extend hours at the community testing and vaccination clinic outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to noon-8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and from 8 a.m-4 p.m. on Saturdays through Jan. 22 effective immediately. The clinic in the IndyCar parking lot at 4551 W. 16th St., across from Gate 2, will accept walk-ins only from noon to 4 p.m.
Both the the two-dose Pfizer pediatric and adult vaccines, and the two-dose Moderna vaccine are available at the clinic.
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This is a little ridiculous that there is still a testing shortage almost 2 years into this pandemic. Makes you wonder what is really going on……
Search “Maker of Popular Covid Test Told Factory to Destroy Inventory”. There is a New York Times article about how Abbott stopped making the rapid tests and destroyed their inventory in August because the sales declined. Maybe Abbott should get some of the blame?
Let’s go Brandon!
The most laughable part about the Biden Administration and their complete dysfunction is: the private employer OSHA mandate for vaccine and weekly COVID testing was scheduled to start this week. That would affect 84 million US workers nationally. Yet, they aren’t even prepared for everyday citizens to test themselves on their own. Did the the Biden Administration ever believe that the employer mandate would pass SCOTUS? And if for some reason SCOTUS rules in favor of this atrocity over the next couple weeks, is there any possible reason to think the federal overreach will have enough testing kits to handle it?
Fauci is a disaster. CDC is a disaster. WHO is a disaster. Complete lack of faith in any bureaucratic health official.
I’m still trying to determine what testing achieves at this point 2 years in except validation you “could” have the Wuhan Fluenza. (The tests are still not accurate and can stay positive per the CDC up to 12 weeks!)
If you’re sick 2 years ago you stay home and not pass it along.
Now misguided healthy people are driving around the state using up tests just to appease their “progressive” family members (those easily identified as they drive around with a handmade cloth mask alone in a car) before being allowed to show up for the boozing and gluttony of Christmas feasts.
But don’t worry employers, President Brandon will make sure to spend your tax dollars to manufacture more tests to meet his private employer mandate. That’ll stop COVID for Joe and Wes!
Exactly right!
Scam of the century
“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business — not just at OneAmerica,” the company’s CEO, Scott Davison, stated last week. “The data is consistent across every player in that business.”
This mortality isn’t among the elderly, either, but Americans 18 to 64 — in the prime of their lives.
What’s more, the numbers are so bad, says Davison, that the situation is worse than “a one-in-200-year catastrophe.”
My question is that 3rd and 4th quarter C-19 rates were not that high, what is the cause of these deaths?
With the new OSHA mandate the State of Indiana will need 85 million at home test kits in the next year. Roughly 3 billion nationwide or $30
6.5 million ppl 60% working 43% unvaccinated
52 weeks
85,000,000 x $10= $850,000,000 out of the economy to 3 global manufactures and one is in China for what now has mutated down to another strain of the flu.
actually, another strain of the common cold, since we are talking about a corona virus and not an influenza virus.
I realize that a knee jerk response is to blame the federal government for not having enough Covid tests available. Why not get back to a view from a more local level? Indiana has a 4 billions dollar surplus. This just did not recently appear. Indiana could have spent some of that money months and months ago to stockpile testing and invest in other general public health measures since COVID was not going away. As usual, the State had no such plan!!!
Our State continues to have NO plan and NO leadership to help our citizens deal with this ongoing public health catastrophe.
I couldn’t agree more on the lack of leadership from our RINO Governor. Stockpiling Rapid Antigen tests with expiration dates could also be very short sighted leadership.
Though a 4 billion surplus appears to be a lot of money, in reality it is only $600 per citizen of state of Indiana. If we had fiduciary responsible state legislators I would like to see that doubled and eliminate state income tax.
The surge of positive tests is simply most people only care about him/herself. Parents learn they are positive, yet none wear masks or socially distance from other family members. We are also short of rapid tests inventory because of unnecessary testing by those without symptoms and/or little to no exposure.