Maybe Santa Claus delivers rapid COVID-19 tests to Iowa

“At what point do you just say, ‘Oh well, it is what it is?’”

That’s what a friend asked me the other day, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was frustrated at contradictory testing guidance from her employer. If she were to test after every possible exposure and isolate while she waits for results, she would rarely be able to go to work at all. The people she serves rely on her and there is no backup.

Almost two years into this ordeal, the country still has not figured out a way to make quick COVID-19 testing widely accessible. Even for people who want to be cautious and do the right thing, scrambling to find a test for the umpteenth time is the kind of thing that makes you want to give up on even trying.

When is that point, as my friend asked? For some, it was at the very start of the pandemic. For many others, it was this spring when vaccines became available for most people, or this fall when vaccines for kids rolled out.

For most of us, there probably is not a single point when the pandemic stops pervading our everyday life. It just fades away little by little each time we are confronted with the reality that people in positions of power are not really “in this together” with us, as we were so fond of saying early in the pandemic.

One big reason for the high cost and inadequate supply of over-the-counter COVID-19 tests is the glacial pace of federal regulatory approval.

President Joe Biden this month announced new steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic and the surging omicron variant, including a new emphasis on rapid at-home testing. Thanks to Biden, at least eight over-the-counter tests are on the market, the White House boasted.

The president gets tested as often as he needs and doesn’t make it to the Wilmington Walmart very often these days. So maybe he doesn’t know that while over-the-counter tests are “on the market,” they often are not actually on store shelves. They are seemingly harder to find than Tickle Me Elmo two days before Christmas in 1996.

With plans to see high-risk family members over the holidays, I decided to stock up with a few test kits. Websites for two large chain stores said they were in stock locally but, alas, they were not.

A gracious stock worker let me know when they might be in. I came back later. Still no luck. I asked another stock worker who was visibly frustrated at the question, presumably having heard it too many times from others seeking tests. I gave up for the day.

After two days and visits to three stores, I found some tests. At almost $25 for a two-pack, I didn’t buy a supply to keep on hand like I had hoped, just enough to feel comfortable going to hug my grandparents this one time.

The materials in the box — nasal swabs, plastic tubes, test strips and reagent solution — are not expensive to produce. At-home tests in some other countries cost only a few dollars, including those made by American companies. Even some countries that aren’t subsidizing tests still have managed to make them available at significantly lower prices than in the United States.

One big reason for the high cost and inadequate supply of over-the-counter COVID-19 tests is the glacial pace of federal regulatory approval.

It wasn’t until December 2020 — almost a year after the novel coronavirus was first detected in the United States — that the Food and Drug Administration gave initial authorization to an at-home antigen test kit without a prescription, one made by Ellume. It was another three months until the FDA authorized two more similar tests — BinaxNOW and QuickVue. As I experienced, FDA authorization doesn’t guarantee you can actually find somewhere to buy the products.

Fast-tracking approval and driving down the price of do-it-yourself tests is one of the first things the government should have done during the pandemic. Two presidents have failed to do it. The bureaucracy has taken modest steps to speed up the approval process but at more than $10 a pop, it’s obviously it is not enough.

The FDA has been more stringent on COVID-19 tests than its peers around the world. The result is less investment from manufacturers and few competitors, which inevitably results in higher prices and reduced supply.

Maybe the regulatory environment is more sensible at Santa’s workshop at the North Pole. Consider putting rapid antigen tests on your Christmas list this year.

(319) 339-3156; adam.sullivan@thegazette.com