Are NPR listeners and readers living in a different reality than the rest of us? A news piece the taxpayer-funded organization ran yesterday suggests the answer is yes.
In an article headlined “Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?”, NPR’s Sydney Lupkin examines how at-home COVID-19 tests are dealing with the latest iterations of the virus.
But what really stands out from the article is the opening scene Lupkin paints:
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, a negative result on a little plastic at-home test feels a bit less comforting than it once did. Still, you dutifully swab your nostrils before dinner parties, wait 15 minutes for the all-clear and then text the host "negative!" before leaving your KN95 mask at home. It feels like the right thing to do, right? The virus has mutated and then mutated again, with the tests offering at least some sense of control as the Greek letters pile up. But some experts caution against putting too much faith in a negative result.
Is it just us, or did the whole taking-a-Covid-19-test-before-a-dinner-party thing stop for most normal people almost a year ago?
At least one piece of anecdotal evidence here in Maine would suggest that some NPR-Americans are not, in fact, dutifully Covid testing before entering large group settings: