Of course, when I tried to make an appointment at one of the sites that has the at-home tests, they were all full. I guess 60,000 tests were snapped up pretty quickly.

Sounds good, but Palo Alto Online recently posted that new state workplace rules forbid employees exposed to COVID-19 to self-administer and self-read tests at home. Doesn't that limit the usefulness of giving people tests to use at home?

Web Link

"Testing: If there's an outbreak at work, employers need to make FDA-approved COVID-19 tests available to exposed employees at no cost, during paid time — and now that also goes for vaccinated, asymptomatic workers who were exposed.

"Tests can no longer be self-administered and self-read. In other words, workers can't take a test at home by themselves. Tests that are processed by a lab, or observed by a medical professional during a telehealth appointment, or administered and observed by medical professionals or an employer are still okay."

To the Editor,

Why post this when all the COVID test pickup scheduling appointments have been taken? No more are available. Please update your story to reflect the current status. Thank you.

These were supposed to be available starting Saturday, but I logged in at 10 PM Friday night (plenty of opportunities), filled out a long. Involved form (yes - I have symptoms), and logged back in at 12:00:15 with my "You're registered" code, and all the tests were gone.

Meanwhile, Popcorn is suddenly offering unlimited tests for a fee. What a surprise. And I'm still sick.

There's no way all these tests disappeared by 15 seconds after midnight Friday.

Can we not prioritize seniors and frontline workers who have symptoms?