The Food and Drug Administration announced authorization Tuesday for the first coronavirus test that will include a home collection option for patients.
The agency re-issued the emergency use authorization (EUA) to allow for patients to test themselves from the comfort of their own home by using “LabCorp’s Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 Test” kit. Included in the kits are cotton swabs for patients to collect nasal samples which then can be mailed to a LabCorp lab for results. (RELATED: National Security Advisor Confirms White House ‘Closely’ Monitoring Kim Jong Un’s Health — Says Successor Will Likely Be In The ‘Family’)
“Throughout this pandemic we have been facilitating test development to ensure patients access to accurate diagnostics, which includes supporting the development of reliable and accurate at-home sample collection options,”FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a statement released Tuesday. “The FDA’s around-the-clock work since this outbreak began has resulted in the authorization of more than 50 diagnostic tests and engagement with over 350 test developers.”
TOPSHOT – Sample testing devices used in diagnosing the COVID-19 novel coronavirus are checked on a production line (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)
“Specifically, for tests that include home sample collection, we worked with LabCorp to ensure the data demonstrated from at-home patient sample collection is as safe and accurate as sample collection at a doctor’s office, hospital or other testing site.”
In order to receive the tests, patients would need a recommendation from their healthcare advisor and fill out a formal questionnaire, TheHill reports. The FDA’s emergency authorization is believed to relieve the demand for health care workers since patients can not test themselves.
Labcorp will reportedly make the test available to most states “in the coming weeks.” Currently the United States has 788,768 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Washington Post.