By: Benyamin Davidsons
The hottest consumer product on the market is not luxury winter gear or watches—it’s still Covid tests. To that end, the government’s initiative to send households free at-home COVID-19 test kits took off with a boom. A majority of New York City residents admitted in a poll that they ordered the free kits.
As per the NY Post, a “huge” 55 percent of Big Apple residents responded that they already applied for the free at- home tests offered from the federal government Web site at covidtests.gov. The survey, which queried 2,500 NYC residents, was conducted by the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health. The initiative’s wide-spread reach is impressive, and demonstrates desirable market penetration. “I was shocked,” said Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, to The Post. “I didn’t expect that high a number ordering the at-home test,” he said. “It’s a huge number.”
Just 45 percent of respondents to the poll said they had not ordered the home test from the site. The CUNY School of Public Health poll interviewed residents via phone, mobile texts and web interviews from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30 by Consensus Strategies, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. “Home testing promises to play an important role in the next chapter of limiting the spread of the COVID virus. Its availability and the way that the consumer will use it, will determine the success of this intervention,” said the CUNY public-health dean.
The poll also found that two-thirds of respondents who received a vaccine booster also ordered the COVID test, while just around one-third of unvaccinated respondents said they ordered it. “This is an indication of the vigilance of vaccinated individuals in containing the spread of the virus,” El-Mohandes said. “It’s a shame that so many among us who are not vaccinated would be resistant to getting the COVID test,” he added. “They should be more willing to get tested to contain the virus, not less.”
The survey, also questioned about masking preferences finding a decline in mask-wearing compared to last year. In this poll, 72 percent said they always wear a mask in public, down from 80 percent who responded the same in January 2021.
The poll showed that Manhattan residents led other boroughs in ordering the Covid test kits. In Manhattan an impressive 64 percent applied for the free kits. Queens and Staten Island residents were also keen with 56 percent of respondents in each of the two boroughs saying their ordered the kits from the federal website.
