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I ordered my 4 free covid tests, but I know it's going to take awhile
My state is distributing free tests at certain locations but I haven’t tried to find any near me. However I was picking up a prescription today and the pharmacy had a stack, selling for $9. First time I’ve seen them available so I picked one up. Just in case I get worried before the federal ones arrive.
15 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Tyia! 
Biden plan to ship 500 million coronavirus test kits transforms Postal Service into relief agency
USPS has added thousands of seasonal employees and converted more than 40 facilities to house, process and ship the rapid tests.
The U.S. Postal Service’s mission to deliver 500 million coronavirus test kits has cast it in an unprecedented role in the nation’s pandemic response just as covid-19 infections have peaked within its own ranks and its network is under immense strain.
Online orders began rolling in this week for the free rapid tests, which are scheduled to ship by the end of the month. The agency has hired thousands of seasonal workers and converted more than 40 facilities into ad hoc fulfillment centers in what experts have called the largest disaster-relief mobilization in its 247-year history.
The stakes for the country — and Postal Service — could hardly be higher. Americans are still struggling to access at-home coronavirus tests as the omicron variant is driving caseloads near record highs in parts of the country.... “Even if you know how to do it, it’s never been done before. A lot can go wrong,” said one senior postal official. “But if we can pull it off, wow.”...
Although the agency is set up to move billions of pieces of mail — letters, advertisements, ballots, parcels, even cremated remains — it has never managed its own off-the-shelf inventory or developed this kind of consumer-fulfillment operation.
The undertaking, as well as a separate nonpostal effort to distribute 400 million high-quality N95 masks, is part of the Biden administration’s response to the omicron-powered coronavirus spike that caused nearly 9 million people to miss work in late December and early January. ...
USPS has added thousands of seasonal employees and converted more than 40 facilities to house, process and ship the rapid tests.
The U.S. Postal Service’s mission to deliver 500 million coronavirus test kits has cast it in an unprecedented role in the nation’s pandemic response just as covid-19 infections have peaked within its own ranks and its network is under immense strain.
Online orders began rolling in this week for the free rapid tests, which are scheduled to ship by the end of the month. The agency has hired thousands of seasonal workers and converted more than 40 facilities into ad hoc fulfillment centers in what experts have called the largest disaster-relief mobilization in its 247-year history.
The stakes for the country — and Postal Service — could hardly be higher. Americans are still struggling to access at-home coronavirus tests as the omicron variant is driving caseloads near record highs in parts of the country.... “Even if you know how to do it, it’s never been done before. A lot can go wrong,” said one senior postal official. “But if we can pull it off, wow.”...
Although the agency is set up to move billions of pieces of mail — letters, advertisements, ballots, parcels, even cremated remains — it has never managed its own off-the-shelf inventory or developed this kind of consumer-fulfillment operation.
The undertaking, as well as a separate nonpostal effort to distribute 400 million high-quality N95 masks, is part of the Biden administration’s response to the omicron-powered coronavirus spike that caused nearly 9 million people to miss work in late December and early January. ...
This is not just emergency relief distribution during an emergency but study and practice for the next ones. This isn't our last pandemic or other national emergency. There are going to be others, and the USPS is learning a new role.
We love our wonderful, 247-year-old, extremely unjustly embattled postal service. Go, USPS!
