FDA authorizes rapid COVID-19 test you can complete at home

Self-administered COVID-19 swab
(Image credit: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday gave emergency use authorization for a 30-minute COVID-19 test you can take entirely at home. The test, by Lucira Health, requires a prescription, and children under 14 must be given the test at a clinic or pharmacy. It's the first test approved in the U.S. that can be completed at home.

To use the test, people swab the inside of both nostrils then put the sample in the vial on a battery-powered machine, which lights up with the results within half an hour. Lucira, based in California, says the test should cost $50 or less.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.