In an Australian-first, 500,000 free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will be handed out throughout the WA community at pop-up distribution points weeks, with no registration required.
Distribution in regional WA starting from 28 March.
Visit the website for distribution points and times.
$9-$12 now per one kit - you may refer to the 5pack per kit, bought last time $38 :(
Thanks!!
Won't people put them on Ebay?
Gumtree scammers gonna be all over it
So say you get 5 maybe of these. How much you reckon you be making after fleabay fees?
Nah, they're too cheap and easy to come by now.
Coles has stock, amazon has several tga 'high sensitivity' in stock.
Besides last I checked, non-businesses accounts have a hard time selling medical devices on eBay.
Yep, they're everywhere. I'm seeing unmarked A330s and A340s at Perth airport several times a week - and these are basically RAT test Expresses from Shenzen.
Not really , they said the same thing when in NSW with the school kids rats. but if you have a decent supply in the shops no one will buy them from ebay unless the price is really cheap then at that price what is the point of selling them.
You can put them on eBay, but will anyone buy them?
They aren't rare, collectable, or even desirable anymore. Stocks are more or less back to normal so why bother buying them privately from eBay.
Shipping and eBay fees would negative most savings.
If I was the government I'd make it illegal to sell them. Job done
good thing Pamela isn't in WA
So that is what he is spending our get on ;)
Thank you 😂
We had Snakes on a plane and now it's time for RATS on a train!
Wow they actually list every location for each day and times they will be handed out at each one.
They bought too much, lol.
So do I, and anti-vax/deniers still keep trying to spread it!
Even with peer reviewed science punching them in the face.
Ah well, some people fear tested proofs they dont want to agree with.
Great idea! Then we can all get it at the same time and overwhelm the hospitals!
After you've got it once, you can still get it again though… So that logic doesn't extend to why we aren't going to still be doing this in 5 years time?
Why wont we still be doing it in 5 years?
Who said we wouldnt?
If its still deadly for people with other serious comorbidities, unless we find a 'cure', I dont expect it to stop entirely for a long time.
Similar to how your doctor gives you a flu test when you're sick.
Look at t UK etc that are further along in the process than us, they're all dropping testing etc requirements. We'll get there too. Just not quite yet.
Yes that's what I'm getting at, of course they are going to drop the testing requirements, but what's the difference between dropping them now, and dropping them 12 months from now? As I said, the vaccination rates won't have increased by any significant margin, they are already AHARP.
It's all politics from now.
The science says we should move on from Covid but remain vigilant of new variants. No doubt a bunch of internet folks think they know better.
@YuMaNuMa: What do the these virologists really know with their fancy university degrees and years of experience in the field?
An anti-vax Karen knows all.
It's more kinda doing a little bit to spread out the initial wave of infection until most people have been exposed to it and have enhanced (as good as it'll get) immunity, and have a rolling low case load (a more "endemic" situation).
@incipient: Precisely. A rolling case load is much more manageable tha huge spike in cases. Any health system will not cope with a surge in cases.
Oh just a sniffle. So that explains why emergency rooms, ambulances and hospitals have been completely overwhelmed during outbreaks. Omicron might be "milder" than Delta, but people don't call an ambulance or go to emergency in such large numbers for nothing. If it was mild for you, good on you. But not everyone is going to have the same experience.
cheers I will try to Catch a few.
Gotta catch them all. Covimon!!
Prepare for trouble. And make it double (vaccination)
Nah the Department of Health WA is already talking about the 8th and 9th shot. Been a yearly thing.
There even trialing Non TGA approved testing kits in WA. There going to knock on the doors of selected suburbs and ask people to complete tests.
None of the above is a joke.
To protect the world from devastation?
Trump has entered the chat.
So the answer is stop testing so we can blisfully be unaware if covid is still around.
Trump's truth social released soon, no more fake news
Keep posting dumb stuff = keep getting negs!
Got a pack of these this morning, said no at first thinking they were offering me some sort of pamphlet, saw they were RATs and took a box. They’re quality Roche Pharma kits, made in South Korea.
Thanks government.
I had removed Roche from my RAT buy list as they are only listed as Acceptable Sensitivity by the TGA. I'll take some for free though.
RATS! WHERE! I hate rats.
Up your nostrils, tickling your brain!!
What a great idea! …Get people who suspect they have covid to go to busy places to get their test ! :-?
No wonder its an Australian First, it's moronic ….. Major Sporting Events? - come one, come all, bring your symptoms, mingle, watch a game, do a RAT test!
It's not like people are going randomly set up their little sterile test area and do their 15 - 20 min test in the stadium where you can't move it or contaminate it etc and then leave the sporting event if they test positive as a precautionary measure. They are going to seek them out when they suspect they've been exposed!
In Qld we had them handed out a dedicated clinics, often drive thru (and you collect them through the car window) that otherwise you didn't have to go anywhere near unless you suspected you had covid!
This is to get a RAT supply so you test at home. No one is going there specifically to get them unless they are voluntarily going. They are target areas to get the most impact.
We also got 15 for free mailed out or collected through a drive thru.
The government just wants people to test more often than not and one way to make that happen is to make it easier and cheaper to do the RAT test.
And then eventually you'll work out (like the rest of us have that are further in front) that they aren't really that great - all they do is:
(a) confirm what you already know; or
(b) most likely confirm the test hasn't worked (as you already know you have covid, because you know you got covid from people you know who had covid)…
People just end up using the initial (false) negative result in the first couple of days to justify why they should still be out in the community even though they have early onset of symptoms.
…not kidding.
Almost everyone I know that's had covid / someone in the family with Covid (now being on the eastern states that is now probably 1/3 to 1/2 of people I know!) the RAT test hasn't shown up anything unless you are so obviously sick and in about day 3-4. By then you know you have covid and are isolating as you are sick and clearly have covid anyway!
Majority of them test negative on RAT tests for first couple of days of symptoms, then either get a positive PCR back proving they had it all along, or advance until they are sick enough it shows up.
Whilst I'm sure there are some rare examples, I don't know of anyone randomly testing whilst symptom free and finding out they had covid.
So basically, just stay home if you are sick or someone in your family is sick… Done.
I've just been exposed to covid (again) as a colleague who was mildly sick for 2 days kept coming in due to the (false) negative RAT results in his family, with these "results" as justification. Then on day 3, 3 of his family tested positive. This is not the first time - another RAT FAIL!
Isn't this just standard operating procedure…
Before COVID peeps were still coming into work when they were sick.
Oh yes neg me because clearly the fact I am isolating from my family with suspected covid because someone used their (false) negative RAT test as justification to work alongside me for 2 1/2 days…. only to get sick enough to not be able to work and then test positive once it was obvious and too late - clearly I don't know what I am talking about, right!?
Sure I've tested negative so shouldn't isolate right… maybe I should go to a sporting game and pick up some more RATs while I'm there
I think the Premier of WA just Ozbargain the whole of Metro WA.
You can't beat free.
The real concern is how many people are testing themselves and doing it wrong (up inside the nostril instead of straight back), thus getting a possible negative when they're actually positive/contagious. I was actually shocked when the news reported how many of the test kits didn't detect Omicron, at all!
Free Plastic to Destroy the Environment from a overhyped virus that has destroyed our culture, small businesses, social lives, mental health and general well being. A virus that has Inflated our monetary system and guaranteed the majority will be be committed to slowlane slavery until death saves you.
Correct. Great post as with the others here that have been negged from the moron pile-on.
I spoke to the WA COVID-19 which is 13 COVID.
So it appears there a huge back log with Australia Post now. So I suspect parcels will also be delay as a result.
![[WA] Free: COVID-19 RATs at Train Stations, Shopping Centres and Major Sporting Events @ WA Government](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/30/689330.jpg?h=a2c3a6f8)
Merged from [WA] 5 Free Rapid Antigen Tests at Train Stations
First time posting, be gentle.
They are handing out 5 free nasal RAT tests (5 test kits in 1 box) at various train stations. I just got one at Leederville train station at 7am. Better than nothing or spending $50 for each kit.