Walmart Is Sending Drones Out To Deliver COVID Tests: Here's How It Works

A lot has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began over 8 months ago, and now Walmart is taking things to a whole new futuristic level.

The supermarket chain is now pairing with Quest Diagnostics and DroneUp to send out a fleet of drones to deliver at-home self-collection COVID-19 test kits in cities that are seeing a massive increase in case numbers.

El Paso, Texas is the latest spot to get the opportunity of air-born tests, as the massive border city has seen a huge spike in confirmed cases with over 75,000 residents being infected.

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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. Walmart Senior Vice President of Customer Product Tom Ward

The process of taking a drone-delivered test is actually quite simple.

In order to get one, you must live in a single-family residence within at least one-mile of a participating store.

If approved and weather permits, the drone will deliver the self-administered nasal-swab test to your driveway, front side-walk, or backyard.

Once you complete your test, you will then ship it back to Quest Diagnostics for testing using the included pre-paid shipping label and await your results.

Other participating cities include Cheektowaga, New York, and North Las Vegas, Nevada. 

"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," said Ward.