Taking this Corona test at home takes patience but is awesome.
Corona is a killer and nobody said that life was going to be easy, but on the run-up to Christmas 2019, life in retrospect was a breeze, as easy as pie, a walk in the park.
Now, 12 months on, the world is a different place after Corona, that nasty little crown, took nature’s advice and wreaked revenge on humans.
If you melt polar caps and set fire to the world’s biggest forests, where did we expect the pathogens to go? Disappear? Ha! No, they descended on us and now we’re a different, and more fearful, species.
Much has happened in 2020 and much will continue to happen. Mass testing and vaccines are the order of the day and it is clear that those who can afford to be tested and those who can acquire the vaccine are going to have very different lives to those who cannot.
Governments, immigration and airlines now demand testing certificates if people want to check their health, want to guarantee against self-isolation or even want to travel and get on a plane… without travelling miles to do so.
So, step forward the tFRWRD DIY Covid-19 Test, the Corona test that can be done at home before being dispatched to Vienna for test results and the ‘certificate’ to be well and to travel.
This is not an easy process and go that takes patience. The kit arrives by post with these, at first, confusing instructions.
1. Scan the QR code, download the app and register to complete the log-in process
2. Insert the cell phone into the recess provided and start video recording via the app
3. Insert the narrow tube into the holding point. Open the saline solution, put it in your mouth and rinse the oral cavity thoroughly for 60 seconds. Attention: Don’t swallow! After 60 seconds, rinse the straw into the insert narrow tubes and spit the saline solution into the tube through the straw
4. Discard the straw and the close tube with sealing adhesive. Place the tube in the transport container and close well
5. End video recording and close app and place the sample in the box and seal
6. Bring the test kit to the post office and send it off. You will get the laboratory test result directly on your app
This seems straightforward enough, but it takes time to go through the stages, not least the videoing of the process. However, this is a test for Corona and there can be no missteps… and this reviewer might be stupid.
It took me time to slavishly follow the instructions and just as I was about to emerge from the process to take my sample for shipment, I realized that I could only finish if I swapped browsers… of which there was no warning.
So, USE CHROME and save yourself a lot of time. Once that had been navigated and I had driven to a local outlet where I could send my sample via UPS, the rest of the experience was seamless.
I received an SMS letting me know at all times where my sample was and then, 24 hours later, an email saying I was negative. Job done.
There are increasingly a large number of options to testing for Corona. The UK has a number of centres where people can drive to and be tested there. Turnaround times are similar to that of tFRWRD DIY Covid-19 test, now least going privately.
But if you’re under lockdown for a considerable period of time and it’s difficult to go out into the world, stay at home and take the test using this product. It will give you peace of mind, even though it will send you a little mad actually doing it.
