A few days ago Labcorp, a leading global life sciences company that is focused on advancing health and guiding patient care decisions, and Walgreens announced that the Pixel by Labcorp At-Home COVID-19 Collection Kit is now available from Labcorp through Walgreens Find Care, a digital health platform available on the Walgreens app and Walgreens.com. Walgreens currently offers COVID-19 testing in more than 1,100 drive-thru locations across the country.
“Labcorp and Walgreens share a common goal of helping customers find easy and safe ways to get COVID-19 test results and make informed health decisions,” said Amy Summy, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Labcorp. “We’re excited to expand our collaboration and make our popular and easy-to-use Pixel by Labcorp COVID-19 At-Home Collection Kit available to even more customers.”
Pixel By LabCorp COVID-19 Testing Kits
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has developed two laboratory tests that identify SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The newer of these tests also tests for influenza A and B viruses. Testing for all three viruses at the same time will provide public health officials with information they need to help reduce the spread of these viruses in the community while conserving resources that are in short supply.
CDC tests are provided to U.S. state and local public health laboratories and Department of Defense laboratories that were either previously qualified for being able to perform a similar type of test used to detect influenza or have been recently approved by their state public health laboratory for SARS-CoV-2 testing.
As of December 16, 2020, the United States had performed over 225 million tests for COVID-19, the highest number of any country worldwide. Russia has conducted almost 84 million tests. High demand leads to testing problems. The COVID-19 pandemic is putting health systems around the world under severe strain. There is a huge demand for test kits, but production capacity is being stretched thin. In the United States, faulty diagnostic kits produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meant the early spread of the disease went undetected for weeks. Elsewhere, concerns have been raised regarding the accuracy of some rapid diagnostic tests (RDT).
Labcorp’s COVID-19 PCR Test
Through Walgreens Find Care, customers can connect to the Pixel by Labcorp website to request the test after completing a short COVID-19 survey to determine eligibility. The kit will be shipped via FedEx Express Overnight to the customer’s home, where they can self-administer the test collection using a short nasal swab and send their sample back to Labcorp. Once processed by Labcorp, test results are accessed by the customer via the Pixel by Labcorp site. If a COVID-19 test is positive, a healthcare staff member will contact individuals directly by phone or mail to discuss next steps.
Labcorp’s COVID-19 PCR test has not been FDA cleared or approved and has been authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens.
“The expanded collaboration between Labcorp and Walgreens reflects both companies’ shared objective to provide health services that help our communities,” said Giovanni Monti, senior vice president of healthcare services, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “We are committed to working together to make it even easier for our customers to get safe access to COVID-19 testing.”
