I can see why it turned out that way: lots of companies were trying, all at the same time, to invent tests that would be cheap to mass-produce and ship, easy for laypeople to take, and valid, and they not surprisingly came up with different solutions. But it's still a pain.
I've used BinaxNow, which works as you've described.
More recently I've used Cue Health, which is much more high-tech. You get a rechargeable/reusable box that plugs into the wall, and a bunch of one-time test kits. When you want to take a test, you make sure the box is charged, then start the phone app, open a test kit, stick the cartridge from the test kit into the box, wait a minute or two for it to heat up, take your nasal swab, stick it into the cartridge, wait a few more minutes, and the box reports the results by Bluetooth to your phone, after which you throw away the cartridge and swab. I believe it also reports the results (anonymized, but with a zip code) to health authorities. Which is a Good Thing from a public-health perspective: in the best of all possible worlds, all test results (positive and negative) would be reported. But it's a lot more packaging going into the trash, and presumably much more expensive to produce.
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Date: 2022-06-10 11:47 am (UTC)I've used BinaxNow, which works as you've described.
More recently I've used Cue Health, which is much more high-tech. You get a rechargeable/reusable box that plugs into the wall, and a bunch of one-time test kits. When you want to take a test, you make sure the box is charged, then start the phone app, open a test kit, stick the cartridge from the test kit into the box, wait a minute or two for it to heat up, take your nasal swab, stick it into the cartridge, wait a few more minutes, and the box reports the results by Bluetooth to your phone, after which you throw away the cartridge and swab. I believe it also reports the results (anonymized, but with a zip code) to health authorities. Which is a Good Thing from a public-health perspective: in the best of all possible worlds, all test results (positive and negative) would be reported. But it's a lot more packaging going into the trash, and presumably much more expensive to produce.