Re: [tg] bulk ordering of covid tests -- IT WORKED

[Judy Anderson <yduJ cs stanford edu>]

I have received 336 Covid tests from my request to the government for
300. (Some people on the Internet said this overage would likely happen.)

They are Inteliswab, which I'd never heard of before. 
https://inteliswab.com/

They are weird. The swab and the readout are all together, and you don't
drip anything. Cally will hate them, because they have a ton of plastic,
and the box itself is seemingly larger than needed. Each box comes with
a vial of liquid, the integrated swab/readout gadget, and a little stand
to hold up the vial. It doesn't hold it up vertically, but at an angle
(weirdness #1).

The procedure is to open the vial, which they say don't unscrew the cap
but rock it side to side to pull it off gently (weirdness #2.) Place it
in the stand at the angle. Then get out your integrated gadget, whose
swab is not round (weirdness #3). Swab your nose as best you can with
this rectangular object. Stick it in the liquid, stir around a bunch,
and then leave it for 30 minutes (weirdness #4).

I got a control line after maybe 5-10 minutes. Obviously I didn't get a
test line, because I don't have Covid. So, they seem to work. They don't
expire until June 2026, so that's good.

I will bring many next time I come to TG. I will bring many to Tech
Squares some time. Maybe I will write up a "how these are different from
your standard test" without the snark and connotations of badness and
send it to Tech Squares before I come so people will be aware that they
should come and take tests. The advantage of this test system is that
you don't have to carefully squeeze the bottle as you are taking the
swab out and carefully measure the drops, and there are fewer objects
involved.

Eric, would you like me to drop some off on my way to tape group some
Wednesday evening?

Things are not looking great for this Wednesday, and secretly I would
kind of like not to go this Wednesday, so I put if needed.