Practically Useless COVID Tests

I had the exact same reaction as these gentlemen did. The original expiration date was December 2023. The extended expiration date is 2 months from now.  No wonder they sent these out for free.  I personally never buy anything with such a short expiration date. I think this just shows the lack of concern our government has for COVID in general.

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 Free COVID tests from the government are arriving almost expired

"Joe Short had heard there was a good chance the free COVID tests he ordered from the federal government's COVIDtests.gov website would arrive with a past due expiration date. After all, the FDA says many COVID tests work beyond the date printed on the box.

"But what Short didn't expect was that the new, extended expiration date for his free tests would still be just around the corner from when they arrived at his home in early October.

"To Short -- and other viewers who've reached out -- it begs the question of why the government is offering up the free tests at all when they come with such a short shelf life.

"They're good until December 30th of this year," he said. "Why would they be sending them out with such a short period of usefulness?"

"Short's tests had a printed expiration date of December 30, 2023, but the FDA extended their shelf life by one year to this December 30. That's too short to Short, who says it feels like the federal government is unloading its trash.

"Are they cleaning out the attic or something and giving us all the stuff they got up there because it just doesn't make sense," he said. The tests are "going to expire in the heart of flu season, COVID season, pretty much when they're most needed."

"The same thing happened to Lanny Kutakoff whose government-issued free tests are from the same manufacturer as Short's but are from a slightly different batch.

"It feels like I went through the process the correct way, and I wasted my time," Kutakoff said. "I think they've got a backlog of old tests that they're sending out."

"The FDA website says the extended expiration date for Kutakoff's tests is December 28, 2024. When he called to see if he could get new tests, he says he was told that he had reached his limit, and he was not eligible for new ones.

"I thought it was ludicrous. I thought it was absurd," he said.

"Both men worry most people won't check the expiration dates on the tests that receive, instead assuming something sent by the government would be good for at least a year when that's not the case.

"If I went into a store and saw these on the shelf, with two months [left], I'd put them back on the shelf," Short said. "I wouldn't buy them."

"Their advice: check the expiration dates of the free tests closely or consider just buying your own.

"In response, the Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging people to not store these free tests but use them ahead of holiday gatherings. They say any test brand that's had its expiration date extended went through testing to ensure it still works."