$ 149 cost COVID-19 home tests on New York streets; FDA approves them with conditions

Foto:
PASCAL GUYOT / Getty Images

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Near NYC icons like the famous Macy’s Store, Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, since January A location at 225 W. 34th St has housed two of the health company “Wellness 4 Humanity” new vending machines that sell COVID-19 tests to be done at home.

How does the process work? For $ 149 dollars -payable with credit or debit cards- a saliva PCR test can be purchased, used wherever and whenever you want, and mailed to one of the company’s partner laboratories via FedEx with a pre-printed label, for later get the result via text message or email within 48 hours.

“I wanted to get something fast that was reliable”, said Lauren Folland, 24, of Jamaica (Queens), who underwent a vending machine test Monday after flying home from a funeral in Fresno, California.

“Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center found that, in detecting COVID-19, a sample of saliva collected by themselves is as accurate as a nasal swab administered by a health worker ”, he highlighted New York Post.

While not FDA approved, the test is among a number of nasal and saliva home collection kits available under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), which means that the FDA allows them “when certain legal criteria are met, including that there are not enough, approved and available alternatives.”

Experts say DIY kits can help slow the spread of the virus by minimize exposure to healthcare workers and other potentially infected people, and by reducing response times.

“The use of saliva collected by each person has the potential to minimize the exposure of health workers and decrease the need for specialized collection devices, such as swabs and viral transport media,” recommended in December the expert Esther Babady, Director of the Clinical Microbiology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

These two vending machines in Manhattan are subject to building hours, open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“Wellness 4 Humanity” aims to place machines in other major cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Dallas. Oakland International Airport already has them, and some universities have also recently installed COVID home test vending machines, including the University of California, San Diego.

In New York, the costs and waiting times for coronavirus tests have been reduced considerably, in laboratories and some pharmacies.

Wellness 4 Humanity featured on Forbes Editors’ Pick!

‘This Company Is Rolling Out Covid Test Vending Machines In Airports, Hotels, Subways And More’

Read the full article here: https://t.co/ExzIFwFafZ

Learn more @ https://t.co/zw2HPrtpeS#healthandwellness #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/qiwLMdYmPS

— Falcon Realty Advisors (@falcon_cre) February 2, 2021

Vending machines with COVID-19 home tests arrive in NYC https://t.co/1x4Ak6t3WX pic.twitter.com/osanJoCjQI

— New York Post (@nypost) February 23, 2021

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