Burlington Reporter

A Burlington laboratory received federal approval for the country’s first at-home COVID-19 test kit.

The Food and Drug Administration granted LabCorp’s home-testing kit called Pixel “emergency use authorization.” A person has to be recommended by a healthcare provider in order to access the kit, according to multiple reports.

LabCorp said testing will involve placing a swab inside your nose and sending it to the company for testing. The News-Observer reported that the test will be available to the public in several weeks for $119. Healthcare workers and first responders who may have been exposed to the illness will be the first to use the kit.

Yahoo Finance reported that LabCorp has been able to escalate its capabilities though a testing backlog exists.

“Often, some of the problem has been on the front end, whether it has been a shortage of the actual swab, and specific solution needed to protect the swabs, or just people’s ability to go to a health care provider who is able to collect the swabs, given that so many physicians’ offices across the country are closed and are doing telehealth only,” Dr. Brian Caveney, chief medical officer at LabCorp, told Yahoo Finance.