Biden said free home COVID tests won’t be available until January. Here are your current options, where to buy them, and why they’re often sold out.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images On February 21, the Washington Post published a story titled, “A fast, at-home coronavirus test will be available to Americans this year.” At the time, public-health officials had been calling for fast, widely available at-home COVID-19 tests for months, saying that allowing people to determine whether they’re infected without lining up at a clinic or waiting days for lab results could help turn the tide in the pandemic.
The situation is drastically different here because U.S. health officials focused on getting people vaccinated against COVID-19 and never leaned into asymptomatic testing as a strategy to fight the pandemic. While some foreign governments moved quickly to encourage screening and subsidize the cost of at-home tests, the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process moved much more slowly.
Thus, when the Delta variant, breakthrough cases, and people returning to work and school drove up demand for at-home testing in the fall, the U.S. was unprepared, and stores couldn’t keep the tests in stock.The FDA has issued emergency-use authorization for a variety of COVID-19 tests. At-home collection kits – which allow people to collect their own sample at home, mail their results to a lab, and get results within days – are available for each type of test.
Accuracy: For people with symptoms, the test gave an accurate positive result 83.5 percent of the time and an accurate negative result 99.2 percent of the time, compared to PCR, according to data submitted to the FDA.Where to purchase: Ellume’s website says the test is sold at Amazon, CVS, Everlywell, Target, and Walmart. As of this writing, it was in stock at Target .
Accuracy: In a study of symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, the Flowflex test correctly identified 93 percent of positive cases and 100 percent of negative cases compared to PCR, according to data submitted to the FDA.Where to purchase: Walgreens and Walmart . As of this writing the test was out of stock online at both stores.
How to perform the test: Cue’s test involves a four step process: insert a cartridge into the small square reader, swab both nostrils, insert the swab into the cartridge, and get results on the Cue Health app in 20 minutes.Accuracy: The instructions posted on FDA.gov say that when compared to a PCR test, the Detect test correctly identified 90.9 percent of positive cases and correctly identified 97.5 percent of negative cases.
How to perform the test: Lucira’s website says you can see “results in as fast as 11 minutes for a positive result and 30 minutes for a negative result.”
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