“The delta virus is surging just as children are going back to school and more businesses are trying to reopen. That also causes a surge in testing, too. To tell us more about the state of testing in the United States, we’re joined by NPR health correspondent Rob Stein. Rob, thanks so much for being with us.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE: My pleasure, Scott.

SIMON: Remind us again, please. What kind of at-home COVID-19 tests can people get these days?

STEIN: Yeah, so, you know, there are a slew of these at-home, over-the-counter COVID tests now, and they’re much easier and faster than those PCR tests. You know, there’s no need for prescription or a doctor’s visit or waiting in line at a test site or waiting for the results to finally come in. The most well-known of these are those antigen tests, and they look for pieces of the virus instead of the genetic material that the PCR test uses. You can order them online or you can pick them up at your local drugstore. You swab yourself at home and get results in 15 minutes, instead of waiting hours or days. So they’re really super fast and easy.”

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