Walmart said Sept. 22 it has begun testing drones to deliver at-home COVID-19 tests to patients in a partnership with Quest Diagnostics.
The trial deliveries have already begun in North Las Vegas and will begin in Cheektowaga, N.Y., in early October. Patients who qualify for drone delivery of COVID-19 self-collection kits must live in a single-family home within 1 mile of the designated Walmart Supercenters. The kits will land on people's driveways, front sidewalk or backyards and are free to customers.
After the kits are delivered, people can take a self-administered nasal swab test and send the sample to Quest Diagnostics.
The partnership also includes DroneUp, a national drone services provider.
"We hope drone delivery of self-collection kits will shape contactless testing capabilities on a larger scale and continue to bolster the innovative ways Walmart plans to use drone delivery in the future," Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer product at Walmart, said.
Read the full news release here.