Cal Thomas - The test kit trap

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Here’s commentator Cal Thomas on those Covid test kits.

CAL THOMAS, REPORTER: Americans can now order at-home COVID-19 test kits from a website the government launched earlier this year. President Biden announced the program during a White House address in December. He kept reminding viewers that it’s all “free.” He sounded like those Medicare supplement ads that ended after open enrollment season closed.

I have several questions about these kits. The president said the government had a stockpile of 500 million. What happens when they run out? The at-home kits I’ve seen contain a limited number of swabs. When they’re gone, do you order more? How long will they be available? And will the government pay for the replacements, too? If so, for how long? Taxpayers have a right to know, given the deepening debt.

Second, because the tests are self-administered, will the airlines accept the results for international travel? Airport testing sites I saw at the end of last year charge up to $179 for a rapid test. On a trip to Italy in October, my wife and I paid $150 each for a rapid test at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. They were the most expensive Q-Tips we’ve ever purchased. Tents and vans have popped up, especially in major cities. They, too, often charge a lot of money. On a recent visit to a shopping mall, I saw a van in the parking lot that offered drive-thru testing for $150 a pop. Talk about price gouging. Will the free test kits put these places out of business?

Two things the president was right about. In a rare moment, he gave credit to “the previous administration,” meaning former President Trump, for its rapid development of a vaccine. The other was his denunciation of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Viruses don’t discriminate when it comes to parties, politics, or countries. The president made a compelling argument when he said his urging to get vaccinated and boosted “is not to control your life, but to save it.”

But, there’s a better way to approach this than to make test kits available to everyone, because not everyone needs or wants them. As with the initial rollout of vaccines, the government should have made the kits available first to the most vulnerable. Allow older people and those with underlying health conditions to go to the head of the line.

By acknowledging that people are “tired” of this virus, its variants, masks, and other limitations on our freedoms, at least the president was trying to tap into the emotions most people are still feeling. That’s what a good politician should do. There is still too much contradictory information coming from too many sources and too many Americans remain skeptical and not sure whom they can trust. This is a hurdle the president has yet to clear, and it may turn out that not even presidential powers are sufficient to get him over it.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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