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

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.

Lucira's home test works in a similar way to the extremely accurate lab ones that rely on a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Instead of PCR, Lucira uses a method called loop mediated amplification reaction (LAMP), The New York Times reports, which "repeatedly copies genetic material until it reaches detectable levels, making it possible to identify the virus even when it is present at only very low levels in the respiratory tract."

The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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

Lucira says its LAMP test was able to detect 94 percent of COVID-19 cases confirmed by a PCR test and identified 98 percent of healthy test takers. People who test positive are expected to self-isolate for 10 days.