The federal government has launched a website to send out free COVID-19 tests to residents, but a major problem is blocking access to people who live in multi-family buildings.
If your address includes an apartment number, you may not be able to get your tests if someone else in your building has already signed up.
"The equity issues are quite extensive," Dr. David Magnus, professor of medicine and biomedical ethics at Stanford University, told KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert."
"People who live in certain kinds of denser housing units, people who live in apartments, people who aren't living in single family houses or dwellings, are less likely to be able to get access to tests, or at least have more hurdles to overcome in order to get access to them," he said.
Magnus warned that these issues will create inequity through unequal distribution. "The distribution of tests are much more likely to wind up in the hands of people who are more affluent and white," he said, calling on the federal government to reconsider its approach.
Beginning Tuesday, Americans are able to receive free COVID-19 tests by plugging their address into a government website. However, people who share an address have found difficulty shipping the tests directly to their residence.
Magnus explained the issues are due to logistics. "It makes it very hard to know whether you've got two people at the same residence ordering them, rather than two people who are in different residences, but the same address, ordering something," he said.
Moving forward, Magnus urged government officials to consider and address the problematic inequalities of at-home tests.
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