FDA authorizes first at-home coronavirus sample-collection kit for testing

Sample collection materials are included in the kit, including nasal swabs. Once complete, users can mail their sample to LabCorp for testing.

“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 Hahn said in a statement.

The FDA said LabCorp intends to make Pixel by LabCorp coronavirus home collection kits available to consumers in most states, with a doctor’s order, in the coming weeks.

The news comes after Quest Diagnostics, another large clinical laboratory in the United States, announced it would be able to test 350,000 people per week and up to 50,000 diagnostic COVID-19 virus tests per day.

New York, which has been the biggest coronavirus hot spot in the U.S., is rolling out an “aggressive” plan to conduct antibody tests on residents in order to reopen its economy, according to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“Any plan to start to reopen the economy has to be based on data and testing, and we have to make sure our antibody and diagnostic testing is up to the scale we need so we can safely get people back to work,” Cuomo said this week, adding that the testing would be done “in the most aggressive way in the nation.”

Vice President Mike Pence has pushed for increased testing and claimed “there is a sufficient capacity of testing across the country today for any state in America” in order to begin reopening state economies.

Some governors have said that plan is far-fetched, including Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who called Pence’s claim “delusional.”