Kroger Health was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for its Covid-19 test home collection kit, the company announced today.
The FDA has previously authorized other Covid-19 test home collection kits. The Kroger kit, in partnership with Gravity Diagnostics, will be available starting this week to “frontline associates across Kroger's Family of Companies.”
Kroger is hoping to expand to other organizations and companies in the coming weeks with a goal of processing up to 60,000 tests per week by the end of July, it said.
How the Kroger kit works: Kroger said the kit will be mailed to an individual’s house if the person qualifies. The kit will include a nasal swab, transport vial, instructions and shipping labels. During a telehealth video chat, a health care professional will guide the individual through the process. The patient will overnight ship the sample and should have results back in 24 to 48 hours, Kroger Health outlined.
The kit will be available in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia initially. It expects to expand to additional states in a few weeks.
The FDA said in the EUA “it is reasonable to believe that your product may be effective in diagnosing Covid-19 by serving as an appropriate means to collect and transport human specimens so that an authorized laboratory can detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the home-collected human specimen, and that the known and potential benefits of your product when used for such use, outweigh the known and potential risks of your product.”
Since the pandemic began: Kroger has been doing community testing around the country.
Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health said during this time, “we've observed some individuals do not have access to transportation or live near these community testing locations. To help ease this burden and provide greater accessibility, we will be offering a home testing solution to our associates first followed by other companies and organizations."