Walmart Deploying Drones to Deliver At-Home COVID-19 Collection Kits

Walmart has formed partnerships with Quest Diagnostics and DroneUp to begin delivering at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits.

Drone delivery trials recently began in North Las Vegas and are slated to start in Cheektowaga, New York, in early October, according to a post on the Walmart website. To qualify for delivery, patients must live in a single-family residence within a mile radius of the designated Supercenters. The kits will be placed on driveways, front sidewalks and backyards, avoiding cars and trees.

Once the free delivery is complete, customers can perform the nasal swab in their home and then send the sample back to Quest Diagnostics using the included prepaid shipping label.

“There’s a lot we can learn from our drone delivery pilots to help determine what roles drones can play in pandemic response, health care delivery and retail,” Senior Vice President, Customer Product Tom Ward wrote in the post. “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.”

Walmart recently announced two other drone delivery trials. One will focus on delivering select grocery and household essentials and the other on health and wellness products.