BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Last week, Governor Jim Justice announced a partnership between the state and private telehealth company Vault Health. The partnership allows West Virginians to order free in-home coronavirus tests.
In order to completely understand the process, I decided to take a test myself. Vault allows asymptomatic West Virginians to order these tests, and I did so on Monday.
On Tuesday night, I received an email from Vault saying my test was delivered. Sure enough, a small white package was at my door. Inside was a large UPS return bag with postage attached and a small white box.
Inside that box was four items: the saliva test itself, wrapped in plastic, an alcohol wipe, a biohazard bag to place the test when shipping it back, and instructions for how to initiate the testing process.
The next step was to connect with a Vault representative over Zoom. They are available from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m..
I joined the Zoom room, within seconds I was speaking with a Vault representative who walked me through spitting into the vial, mixing in a solution, packaging the test into the biomedical bag, inside the original white box, inside the UPS bag. The final step is to sanitize the bag with the alcohol wipe and ship the test.
I shipped off the test on Wednesday afternoon. According to the Vault website, I can expect the results around 1-3 days after Vault receives those results back.
While the testing process was straightforward, there is concern over the accuracy of the results.
“The idea of those things may be good as a screening mechanism,” said Lloyd White, administrator of the Marion County Health Department.
He says these rapid tests have had notorious issues with accuracy. He also raised the concern about the room for human error in self-administering these tests.
“Now in terms of that rapid testing that some of those spit tests are, they have notoriously opposed the accuracy of them, so if we get a positive rapid test that is non-PCR, we class it as probable until such time that it is confirmed by PCR,” said White.
To apply for one of these tests, visit the Vault webpage.
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The Link LonkDecember 10, 2020 at 06:25AM
https://www.wdtv.com/2020/12/09/west-virginia-dhhr-offers-free-quick-and-easy-in-home-coronavirus-tests-but-the-results-are-not-completely-trustworthy/
West Virginia DHHR offers free, quick and easy in-home coronavirus tests, but the results are not completely trustworthy - WDTV
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