Addiego Bill Permitting In-Home COVID-19 Testing in New Jersey Passes Committee

Trenton – Legislation to authorize the use of all federally approved methods of coronavirus testing during the current public health crisis passed the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today.

The bill, S-2388, sponsored by Senator Dawn Addiego, would authorize individuals to use any testing method approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration including but not limited to self-collection of testing specimens, the use of mail-order laboratory testing services, the use of home testing kits, and the use of laboratories that have federal approval but are not otherwise licensed in New Jersey.

“As hospitalizations decline and the curve flattens, testing is still as important as ever,” said Senator Addiego (D-Atlantic/Burlington/Camden). “Testing is not only important to help identify, isolate and hospitalize people who have the disease, it also gives us a clearer public health picture and is crucial in our future mitigation efforts. It’s only right that New Jerseyans are given every possible option for testing, especially ones that allow them to do it from the comfort of their home.”

Current New Jersey law provides that only a person legally qualified can submit specimens to clinical laboratories and/or receive reports of the subsequent results. This therefore prohibits regular people from conducting their own specimen collection and sending the materials to a lab even though the FDA recently approved an at-home testing kit developed by LabCorp.

New Jersey is one of just four states that does not yet authorize in-home testing.

“There is no reason to leave even one stone unturned,” continued Addiego. “Testing is the imminent hurdle in front of us. The road to re-opening and recovery relies on more testing and this bill will help move our state towards that goal as we continue to combat the COVID crisis.”

The bill would take effect immediately and would expire upon the end of both the state of emergency and the public health emergency declared in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

The bill next heads to Senate floor for further consideration.