Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

the irony is that if these are not already FDA-approved devices, then selling them (and even giving them, I think) to consumers will be illegal.

it seems clear that the regulations would be harming the public interest and should not be enforced, but you could imagine a scenario where there was a politician with a political grudge against a liberal city like Seattle.

Not anymore. That restriction has been removed [PDF link]:

https://www.fda.gov/media/135659/download

Low cost home testing kits can go beyond SARS-COV2 and track other diseases all from the safety of your home. Why go to the hospital where you could possibly be infected by other people with infectious diseases or infect the people around you.

Personally, if it is low cost enough that I don't need to use health insurance then I am all for it. Health insurance is good enough until surprise they don't want to cover you or you get surprise bills in the mail from the hospital.

Gates Foundation is absolutely forward thinking. I like it a lot.

Tech feudalism sounds pretty good about now. I trust bill gates to manage this far more than I trust our government, which so far has been worthless.

If anything sets a bad precedent, citizens starting testing themselves and each other, what could possibly go wrong (sarcasm)...

Should we test for flu, cold as well? All other diseases? Should you only be allowed to be somewhere if you tested yourself within the last N hours ... etc .. because that is the next step, looking at each other with suspicion.

When did you last test yourself? Did you not test yourself? Why not? What are you hiding? What kind of citizen are you? Get back there and start testing yourself.

Are you going to test yourself every day? When you sneeze? In the morning, in the evening?

Stop living in fear. Nothing will happen to you.