Not only did the test kits arrive today, but they are good until NEXT May!
The first time we ordered the tests we received were BinaxNOW. This time we got tests by iHealth. Oh well.
I’m going to look into buying more of the BinaxNOW tests locally and try for reimbursement.
Why disappointed in another brand?
I ordered a second batch mid week last week and had them in the mail yesterday. We have a small stack on hand for us or for our kids or would def share with a person looking for one. I stack them acccording to date in the storage closet so that if someone grabs one, they are grabbing the one due to expire soonest.
I organize our tests like this as well! 
I just got an email that our state is no longer going to give them out after March 15 but refer to the federal program, so ordered one more order before that shuts down. The state ones, which I got before the federal ones, have expiration dates after the federal ones.
Hope I don’t need any of them.
BinaxNOW is made in the US. The iHealth tests being supplied by the govt. are made in China.
Long before Covid19 our family avoided products made in the PRC, particularly health care related or food related. A family member was harmed by PRC-made adulterated heparin. For that, and other reasons, we’re leery about the safety of such things. While there may be no need for concern in this case, the problem is that there’s no way to know about the possibility of harm until it’s too late.
Received my second set of tests today in the mail that I ordered last week.
The ones I just got in the mail expire in October.
I got a notice yesterday that it was my last chance to order tests from the state (I work in a school so had ordered twice to have instant tests available). Ordered yesterday, arrived TODAY!
Bad news? They expire in June - before the others I ordered!
Now the challenge is getting people to use them for gatherings. I have lupus and also take care of a 95 year old parent. A friend asked me over for Scrabble but she and her husband don’t want to test, and cancelled the invitation. My brother is flying in for elderly parent’s birthday. I offered him tests but he has some. So awkward. Do I ask if he tested? He is going to spend some hours with our parent, whom I care for.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the expiration date, because, unfortunately, we may have to use them sooner than many of us hoped. CDC is reporting that the virus concentration in wastewater (particularly in Northeast and Midwest) has increased dramatically recently, which is usually a good precursor. COVID cases have also been rising rapidly again in many parts of Europe and Asia. Another COVID wave here is likely already on the horizon.
Ordered second set Friday; arrived today. Both iHealth. First set expires in June; second set August. We haven’t used any yet.
Ordered a second set because the first one expires in July. The new set is good until…August.
We will use some next month when we go visit my parents, so I’m glad to have them but it did make me chuckle.
Well, a lot of folks use them every week, so as I said upthread, for us, expiration dates don’t matter. We use them if we are going to be inside with family, which is fairly often.
After the most recent recall of tests due to false positives, I won’t be ordering one. Seriously…why? So my virus has a name? I’ll call it Betty.
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For someone who claims to not care about Covid you sure spend a lot of time reading and posting on covid threads, lol lol……thought you were getting on with your life, lol lol
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I have ordered the free tests twice.
My favorite tests are the Binax Now. They showed up in local drugstore and I bought 4 boxes of two tests each for $99, and submitted a claim for reimbursement to my insurance.
I got Flowflex earlier this year, the same way.
Now I find that friends and family refuse to test before getting together. My daughters will, but not my friend who wanted to play Scrabble and not my brother who flew up from FL to see my 95 year old mother.
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This must be the latest in the “covid is gone” mania that’s sweeping the nation. Masks are (mostly) gone, no social distancing, no contact tracing, no reporting of covid test results (if people are bothering to do them anymore). I’m also sure people are ignoring the isolation/quarantine guidelines.
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My brother is “anti-mask” but says he will test to see family. I was so angry at him last week, when he wore his mask under his nose while visiting our sister who was in the hospital for congestive heart failure. Not sure I trust him now. I’m getting so I don’t want to see him at all.
Everyone else is on board with testing for visits, and masks if that doesn’t happen. Still intent on keeping the littles from getting infected when they can’t vaccinate yet.
None of this seems onerous to me.
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May I ask if you know your friends’ reasoning? Do you think it’s the cost of buying rapid tests, or do they really mind the 10 seconds process of getting the sample?
I have long preferred testing for visits over masks; I trust the tests more than the masks (ie I’d rather sit next to someone who got a negative test in the past 12 hours than someone who may be positive/contagious but wearing a mask), and I find testing to be completely easy, pain free, and non-intrusive to enjoying life! Seems so odd your friends refuse. Have you offered to provide the tests at the outset of the gathering? Not that you should have to, but they are relatively affordable and it’s good for one’s overall health to maintain in-person friendships, so you could view it as an investment in your own health.
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