Buying COVID (rapid) tests

Eric Coughlin

Eric Coughlin

Veteran
Does anyone know if COVID tests can be purchased by the general public and if so where and what ones to buy?

Clients keep asking for COVID tests and rather than having to keep driving to different locations and sometimes needing to schedule tests, being able to use an already bought pack of COVID tests would be way more convenient.
 
I don’t know about “the general public”, but a producer I know found a source late last summer/early fall. He’s one of those guys that has “a guy” for everything and knows everyone. He was going through probably at least 10-12/week for shoots he was doing. They saved my butt one week, when I found out the night before a shoot(not one of his) that I had been around someone about five or six days prior who’s daughter ended up testing positive three or four days later. They got me a rapid that night and I was negative, thankfully(and so was this guy and the rest of his family, but they didn’t find out until the next day).

So... They can be bought, if you know the right people. Its just finding those people. And finding the ones that aren’t running a scam.
 
Pixel test by LabCorp is similar to Let's Get Checked. Same price but utilizes FedEx for shipping instead of UPS. They can also work directly with insurance versus what appears to be the itemized receipt for reimbursement provided by Let's Get Checked.
 
I think Eric is asking about what I have used: self-administered rapid tests. It's a nasal swab, "reagent" and test "card". The swab is placed into the vial of reagent after swabbing inside your nose(not the base of your brain stem). It's mixed for a very short period of time(less than 30 secs, I think) and then a few drops of the liquid are placed on/in a test card. You get confirmation that the correct amount was applied(indicated by a line next to the 'C') then wait for 15 mins(some of the newest are 10 mins, now, I think) and hope that no line appears next to the 'T'. Pretty darn simple.

The last test I had administered on-site by medical professionals for a regular client(last month), was the exact same rapid test that I had self-administered several times already. I semi-joke that it's like a pregnancy test for covid.
 
And depending on where you are, there may be some medical people that understand the demands and needs of those of us that work in production and TV and are catering to our unique needs of needing tests ASAP, under circumstances that the general public would be denied. Meaning, generally if no one has signs, symptoms or has been in direct contact with someone with covid, they are not going to be given a test. Whereas we have clients and shoots that we cannot be apart of without a negative test prior to the shoot.
 
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