New Jersey residents can now get COVID-19 tests mailed to their front door

As many people struggle to find COVID-19 tests at pharmacies and wait on long lines to pick up tests, New Jersey residents are now eligible to have free tests mailed right to their front door.

Through a partnership with Vault Medical Services, New Jersey is offering free at-home COVID-19 saliva test kits to anyone who signs up through a statewide program. The tests are available to any resident, regardless of any symptoms.

To order a test kit, residents need to visit learn.vaulthealth.com/nj and enter basic profile information , including name, race, ethnicity, and gender. Residents are also prompted to answer questions that include whether the test is for travel, if there had been exposure to anyone who had tested positive for COVID-19, whether there were any symptoms, and if they had received any vaccinations.

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Once ordered, the kit is shipped through UPS with next-day delivery. When the test arrives, residents will meet with a Vault healthcare professional over Zoom, where they can ask any questions and are walked through the test.

Residents will need to log into their online Vault patient portal, where they enter a virtual waiting room. After the health-care professional gives the patient instructions on taking the test, the patient can mail back the sample in a pre-paid package for next-day shipping.

Test results will return 24 to 48 hours after the package is received by the lab.

Patients cannot open their test kit before their Zoom session and cannot eat, drink, smoke, or chew anything for 30 minutes before the test, according to the program’s website.

Zoom sessions can be scheduled during any of the following times: