We have arranged for it to be easier for you to find a free COVID testing site near you on Google. Just enter “COVID test near me” in the Google search bar and you can find a number of different locations nearby where you can get tested.
I just tried this. Of the 15 CVS locations nearest me, there are no appointments available today, no appointments available tomorrow, no appointments available Friday, no appointments Saturday (it’s Christmas) and no appointments available Sunday. Of the ten Walgreens locations nearest me, four said “no appointments available” and the other six listed “few appointments available.” When I plugged in all of my information, there were no open slots at the sites that were listed as “few appointments available” from now until December 29. My local Patient First limits testing to those who have symptoms.
And if it’s this impossible to find an appointment for a Covid-19 test here in northern Virginia, it’s probably a similar story up the entire northeast corridor. As noted in yesterday’s Jolt, it’s nearly impossible to find Covid-19 tests in drugstores in large swaths of the country. Biden boasted that “the federal government will purchase one half billion — that’s not million; billion with a “B” — additional at-home rapid tests, with deliveries starting in January.” In other words, a lot more tests will be available after everyone has traveled and gathered indoors to celebrate the holidays.
Joe Biden is telling people to go online . . . so they can see just how many nearby pharmacies and health institutions are booked solid through the holidays — shades of the early failures of Healthcare.gov. It is also reminiscent of the administration’s early days, when the president and his top officials had to delay a campaign urging Americans to get vaccinated because so few vaccination appointments and doses were available.