Amazon’s At-Home COVID-19 PCR Test Is FDA-Authorized for Emergency Usage and Only $40

By Christina Butan

As coronavirus cases continue to surge in the United States due to the highly contagious Omicron variant, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized a handful of at-home rapid antigen and molecular (PCR) COVID-19 test kits. Many of the kits can be conveniently found online, including Amazon’s very own RT-PCR kit, which recently was FDA-authorized for emergency usage.

Editor’s note: Due to high demand, the Amazon COVID-19 at-home test kit’s availability is limited. You can find more FDA-authorized tests on Amazon below.

Shop More FDA-Authorized At-Home COVID-19 Tests on Amazon

iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test, 2 Pack, $17.98
On/Go At-Home COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test, 2 Pack, $24.88 (orig. $39.99)
DxTerity COVID-19 Saliva At-Home PCR Test Kit, $85 (orig. $99)
Lucira Check It COVID-19 Test Kit, $89
EmpowerDX At-Home COVID-19 PCR Test, $99.99

While many at-home tests are rapid antigen tests, meaning that you get results in 15 to 30 minutes, Amazon’s test is a real-time polymerase chain reaction test, a variation of the PCR test that gets you results within 24 hours of lab submission. To use the kit, simply register your kit online at AmazonDX.com, collect a nasal sample following the instruction provided, and ship the sample the same day at a UPS location. (The test kit provides a prepaid next day delivery mailing label.) The test will be sampled at Amazon’s College of American Pathologists-accredited and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified laboratory, and your results will appear on AmazonDX.com within 24 hours of the collection time.

You can purchase the test kit on Amazon for $39.99 and expect it to ship within a week. (Note that the shipping time may continue to grow longer due to increased demand.)

Buy It! Amazon COVID-19 Test Collection Kit, $39.99; amazon.com

For those interested in using the test for traveling, Amazon claims that the PCR test “meets requirements for testing when traveling within the US (except Hawaii), and when traveling from the US to many international locations,” however the retailer advises consumers to refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s travel guidelines, as well as pay careful attention to the timeline for receiving the test results.

Reviewers note that the test kit is “easy to use” and provides “clear instructions,” but urge shoppers to pay attention to the details. For example, the test can only be used for people 18 years of age and older, and once you register your test kit, you must mail the sample the same day.

As the number of COVID-19 cases keep rising and the CDC quarantine guidelines continue to change, having a few at-home COVID-19 tests on hand could be a smart investment.

https://people.com/health/fda-authorized-at-home-covid-test-amazon/