Ah yes, the administration who claims that they “follow the science!” has once again seen their mouthpiece, Jen Psaki, eat her own feet during a press conference.

For a wonder, it wasn’t Peter Doocy this time who set off Psaki and triggered her snark button. NPR’s Mara Liasson asked a simple question: why doesn’t the United States utilize at-home COVID-19 test kits the way that Europe does? And this is a completely fair question! In Europe, the home COVID tests have been widely available at drugstores for low prices, and in some countries, they will send tests to your home for free. In England, you can even pick them up at the store for free.

Getting the test kits couldn’t be easier. They’re readily available at pretty much every pharmacy in the country. Anyone can just walk in and ask for them – and they’re completely free, usually distributed in boxes of five or seven. You can go back and get as many as you need.”

If you can even find one in the U.S., they’re generally $12 – for a single test.”

The kits contain rapid antigen tests, which can identify about 98% of infectious COVID-19 cases. With similar programs rolled out elsewhere in Europe, they have helped to slow the spread of the virus right across the continent.”

“This is a really good extra tool in our kit to fight COVID,” Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London, one of the U.K.’s leading epidemiologists, told CBS News. “It reassures people, it’s easy to do… it’s not perfect by any means, but it just gives you extra knowledge. You know if you are testing negative all the time that you are safe.”

So, what’s the holdup in the United States? Drumroll please… it’s the FDA!

The answer appears to be a confounding combination of overzealous regulation and anemic government support — issues that have characterized America’s testing response from the beginning of the pandemic.”

Companies trying to get the Food and Drug Administration’s approval for rapid COVID-19 tests describe an arbitrary, opaque process that meanders on, sometimes long after their products have been approved in other countries that prioritize accessibility and affordability over perfect accuracy.”

An FDA scientist who vetted COVID-19 test applications told ProPublica he became so frustrated by delays that he quit the agency earlier this year. “They’re neither denying the bad ones or approving the good ones,” he said, asking to remain anonymous because his current work requires dealing with the agency.”

FDA officials said they simply want to ensure that rapid tests detect even low levels of the virus, since false negative test results could cause people to unwittingly spread the disease. They blame the test shortages on an absence of the kind of sustained public funding that European governments have provided. Without it, manufacturers have lacked confidence that going through the FDA’s process would be financially worth the trouble.”

The other problem is that in the United States, besides the fact that you can’t get your hands on tests, is that even when you do, school districts often will not accept the results of those home tests as confirmation of a negative test – which means it’s often not worth it for parents, who need to get a PCR test done in order to send a child back to their classroom. Apparently, Americans are too stupid in the eyes of the government to follow directions on the home test, but Europeans are smart enough to test themselves frequently.

But the real dirty little secret is that if Americans are able to test at home, then the health departments lose control of the numbers, and can’t keep pushing sheer pants-wetting hysteria over rising cases.

It’s a story that’s becoming commonplace in the era of rapid home Covid testing: People who test positive are almost never counted by public health agencies charged with bringing the pandemic to heel. While home tests have distinct advantages — they’re convenient and quickly inform people of their infection status so they can take steps to avoid spread the virus — most who test positive don’t come to the attention of health officials unless they are sick enough to see a doctor.”

To be sure, the growing availability of home tests is good news for a country that stumbled through more than a year of the pandemic with inadequate testing resources. Still, as the U.S. moves into a second pandemic holiday season with the Omicron variant looming, state and local health departments are increasingly relying on incomplete data and educated guesses to capture ups and downs in the infection rate and to guide decision-making. Home-testing samples, for example, aren’t submitted for genomic sequencing, which could delay identification of the Omicron variant in communities. And contact tracers can’t trace cases they don’t know about.”

“If nobody’s reporting the tests, are we really getting the information we need?” said Atul Grover, health policy researcher and executive director of the Association of American Medical Colleges. “We have no idea what the true positivity rate is.”

COVID-19 has a survivability rate of 98.2%, according to the doom-and-gloom Associated Press. Do you care how many people in your community get the flu? We don’t track flu variants like this. But public health departments NEED those COVID case numbers. Not the hospitalization rates or the death rates, the number of CASES. For a virus with a survivability rate of 98.2%.

But even the Biden administration can’t ignore the demand for home test kits. Which leads us back to Jen Psaki the Psnarky. Mara Liasson asked a perfectly reasonable question. Psaki was not happy about it.

Psaki immediately responded with, “Well, I would say first, we have eight tests that have been approved by the FDA here,” she continued, “We see that as the gold standard.”

Liasson was unsatisfied with the press secretary’s answer and continued to press, asking, “Why not just make them free and have them available everywhere?”

“Should we just send one to every American?” Psaki fired back with some tension.”

“Maybe,” replied Liasson, also with more snap.”

“Then what happens when every American has one test? How much does that cost and then what happens after that?” said Psaki, in a somewhat condescending tone.”

Liasson responded, “All I know is that other countries seem to be making them available in greater quantities for less money.”

“Well, I think we share the same objective, which is to make them less expensive and more accessible, right?” Psaki stated, seemingly attempting to close up the reporter’s questioning.”

Let’s just say for touting themselves as the Party and Administration of SCIENCE!, the actual scientists and doctors on Twitter were not amused with Psaki and her response.
https://twitter.com/tmprowell/status/1468074296027320321
Oh, Jen. You’ve done it now. Science Twitter let Psaki have it.

Many are ridiculing this dismissive and out of touch take by @PressSec on Covid tests.

But for me it’s the ‘how much does it cost’ part.

We spent BILLIONS AND BILLIONS on vaccines that we would never consider charging for.

Tests should be no different.pic.twitter.com/bf7JnpYTbH

— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) December 7, 2021

I'm appalled by this answer, in part due the the tone. But also it suggests no one is talking about doing this — free, widely available tests — even though many other countries are. I just do not get it. https://t.co/BXJ3xJhczJ

— ProfEmilyOster (@ProfEmilyOster) December 7, 2021

There are two things going on here. First, Psaki was snappish and condescending to someone other than Peter Doocy, which naturally drew attention. All the other press in the room are usually trying to kiss up to her (Afghanistan being the rare exception), and Psaki doesn’t do well when asked direct questions that she finds unpleasant. She becomes flip and sarcastic. And as you can see, her tone was just as much a problem for Science Twitter as her actual comments.

Second, the idea that we don’t have enough tests or money to provide home COVID tests to every American. How much FREAKING MONEY has been appropriated to “combat” COVID and “shut down the virus”? TRILLIONS, and counting! And yes, that money was wanted by local governments for other, non-COVID related reasons. If at this point in time, we don’t have the tests available to send, or have readily available to purchase, then that is 100% completely the FDA’s fault. And it would only be a continuation of a long line of screw-ups by government agencies when it comes to testing.

Will Psaki be even remotely apologetic in her next appearance at the podium, now that she has been slapped down on Twitter by The Science? Unlikely, unless Peter Doocy decides to ask her about it. Being Psaki the Psnarky means you never have to say you’re psorry.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click