//New at-home Covid-19 tests could help us end the pandemic sooner

New at-home Covid-19 tests could help us end the pandemic sooner

Abbott’s BinaxNOW Covid-19 Ag Card Home Test received an emergency use authorization from the FDA on December 16. It requires prior approval or a prescription. | Courtesy of Abbott

“We’re getting to another level of access to timely testing, and hopefully that trend is going to continue.”

Since the spring, many public health experts have been calling for rapid, at-home, over-the-counter Covid-19 tests for people without symptoms. The Food and Drug Administration finally authorized the first one Tuesday, potentially ushering in a new approach to combatting the pandemic, which is projected to continue taking thousands of US lives each day through the winter and early spring.

These home tests would work alongside the standard, lab-based PCR tests that have been the backbone of testing in the US but have often been too slow at catching infections before they spread. Rapid at-home tests,