- Kroger is giving its employees access to a COVID-19 test kit at home.
- Employees will video chat with a medical professional while performing the test to ensure proper sample collection.
- Employees will then send the test sample to a laboratory via overnight shipping and receive the results within 24 to 48 hours.
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Kroger is giving its employees access to free COVID-19 tests at home starting this week, the company said Wednesday.
The supermarket chain said the US Food and Drug Administration granted the emergency use authorization for the test kits, which Kroger developed. Kroger said he expected to process up to 60,000 tests per week in late July.
Kroger will make the kits available to other companies and organizations in the coming weeks. Employers are responsible for the cost of the kits, which will be free to employees, according to Kroger spokeswoman Kristal Howard.
Kroger said that most of the test results collected through the home kits will be available within 72 hours.
“For the past few months, Kroger Health has been providing Americans with access to COVID-19 testing through community testing sites across the country; however, we have observed that some people do not have access to transportation or live near these community testing sites, “said Kroger Health President Colleen Lindholz. “To help ease this burden and provide greater accessibility, we will offer a test-at-home solution to our associates, first followed by other companies and organizations.”
This is how the tests will work:
- Patients will use a website to answer screening questions and enter codes associated with their organization and identity (such as an employee ID).
- If the patient qualifies for a test, the kit will be shipped home within 24 to 48 hours.
- “The kit includes a nasal swab, a transport vial, an instruction sheet, a prepaid shipping label, and packaging materials for shipping the sample to the laboratory,” said Kroger.
- Once a patient receives the kit, a healthcare professional will guide them through the test through a two-way video chat.
- The patient will then send their sample by overnight shipment to a laboratory for processing. Results will be delivered in 24 to 48 hours.
