LONGVIEW, Texas — A necessary tool to slow COVID-19’s spread is seemingly nowhere in sight.
East Texans took to Facebook, sending post after post, scouring for at-home COVID-19 tests.
Longview resident Laura Starling was one of them. She visited seven pharmacies in two hours and found none.
"A lot of them had pieces of paper on the wall that said, 'we do not have COVID tests' because apparently they've been asked over and over and over and over and over," Starling said,.
Her saving grace was a neighbor who happened to have extra. She bought the tests took them home and tested herself. She tested positive and began quarantining.
Starling said by the time she would've been able to get tested otherwise, the virus may have already passed.
"It's very frustrating," she said. "I mean, you want to do the right thing, or if your employer is requiring it, or travel requires it, and you can't even get one."
Federal COVID-19 tests are now up for grabs. Each household that enrolls will receive four tests free of charge by clicking here.
NET Health CEO George Roberts says home tests are helpful, but leave some gray area when it comes to tracking community spread levels.
“We're showing very substantial rates of COVID-19 just through their normal circuits, but we know that these numbers that we're getting are lower because the at-home tests are not being reported to us," Roberts said.
If and when your home COVID-19 test gives you a positive result, it’s really important for you to report that positive result to a public health agency.
To report a positive result to NET Health, Roberts says the agency will need your first and last name, date of birth, exactly when you tested positive and the home test kit's manufacturer that you used.