Dan Abrams Goes Off on Home Shopping Channel Now Selling Covid Tests: Underscores the ‘Pathetic’ US Handling of Pandemic
NewsNation host and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams went off on the country’s pandemic response Monday, and noted that a home shopping channel is using a plastic surgeon who appeared on The Real Housewives of Orange County to hawk Covid-19 tests amid a nationwide shortage.
While at-home tests such as BinaxNow’s Covid-19 test kits were available at drug stores and big box stores just a month or so ago for roughly $12 per test, they are now very difficult to come by.
On Dan Abrams Live Monday, Abrams noted that one network is attempting to cash in on the testing shortage.
“We are so excited about our Flowflex at home antigen test!” ShopHQ host Melissa Miner boasted of tests in a clip which aired in several major markets this past weekend. “These types of tests are sold out. I know they are, in your area. It’s all over the news. Nobody can find them.”
Miner then enlisted a plastic surgeon named Dr. Terry Dubrow to help pitch the urgency in buying tests from ShopHQ with an energy that would make Joy Mangano blush.
In his Mediaite Moments segment, Abrams ripped the spectacle.
“With the Omicron variant raging, so many experts recommend home testing to assess your risk to others. Except, somehow, they are in extremely short supply,” Abrams noted. “Long lines can be seen throughout the country at testing sites and in locations that have the kits for sale.”
Abrams asked, “So, who knew that of all places you can find them on a home shopping channel called ShopHQ?”
“That’s right, with the tests in short supply, somehow ShopHQ has them and are selling them at a premium of $25 per test,” he said. “This coming from a network better known for selling other types of products.”
Abrams then noted that ShopHQ commonly sells items such as cleaning products and jewelry, and scoffed at the absurdity of a plastic surgeon slinging essential tests during a shortage.
“Wait, a plastic surgeon hawking public health tests?” Abrams asked. “And not just any plastic surgeon but a ‘double board certified’ one named Terry Dubrow? Name sound familiar?”
Abrams reminded his audience that Dubrow previously appeared on the reality TV show.
He then unleashed on the country’s failure to find itself adequately prepared as the third year of the pandemic begins,
Yes, he is a plastic surgeon on the reality show The Real Housewives of Orange County, so of course we can trust him about the latest Covid information and testing. Look, I don’t blame the doctor or ShopHQ for selling the tests, but when we are close to entering our third year of the Covid pandemic and a home shopping channel with a Real Housewives doctor is your best bet for a home testing kit? Well that is pathetic.
Watch above, via NewsNation.
