Can't find a COVID-19 test? Try a tracking app
BY IRINA IVANOVA
Can't find a COVID-19 test? It might be time to let bots do the scouting for you.
Product trackers, which just weeks ago were helping some holiday shoppers secure in-demand gaming consoles or graphics cards, are also keeping a digital eye out for the availability of scarce COVID-19 tests. Tracking websites and apps including HotStock, NowInStock.net, ZooLert and Brickseek have added COVID-19 home tests to their roundup of hot items tracked across ecommerce sites.
Jonathan Allen has taken notice. Better known by his social media handle "SupplyNinja," he's been following restocks of high-demand electronics like PS5 or XBox consoles on his Twitter account and newsletter. But shortly after Christmas, he started seeing messages asking for help snagging COVID-19 tests amid an ongoing surge in infections fueled by the Omicron variant.
"I've been getting requests since the New Year started. Seems that once Christmas was out of the way, people began focusing back on today's current event — this virus," he told CBS MoneyWatch.
Allen estimates he receives up to 15 message a day inquiring about finding a test kit. "I get so many, they bury each other," he said.
The popular coupon app Honey lists four types of at-home COVID tests among the items most watched by users, including tests manufactured by Binax, QuickVue, Homeflex and InteliSwab.
ZooLert recently added a COVID-19 tracker to its online roster. NowInStock.net and Brickseek are also tracking tests' availability. The change comes amid a nationwide shortage of COVID tests coinciding with the end of the holiday travel season and the rise in infections.
The tech behind these apps
Product trackers use the same technology to locate COVID-19 tests as they do to hunt down other items. Most use website scrapers or bots to detect changes on a product's webpage on large retail websites. They might detect if the "Add to cart" button lights up, indicating that something is in stock. Others connect to a website's application programming database, or API, to check if something is in stock.
"They're not connected to any kind of master database — mostly they just keep checking the website over and over," Rick Watson, an ecommerce consultant, recently told CBS MoneyWatch.
That means using a tracker won't necessarily get you insider information on whether a test is available. But it can save you from having to manually trawl retail websites to see if something is in stock. On social media, people have compared the search for a COVID-19 test to experiences like trying to score amusement park tickets or high-demand sneakers.
"Do you miss the thrill of refreshing [the Disney app] to snag a fast pass? Well, I have found the next best thing. Refreshing the Walgreens page to snag a COVID test," one Twitter user wrote.
Read the entire article at CBSNews.com.