Walmart announced this week that it will pilot drone delivery of at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits, which is a new way to provide additional, and contactless, testing options.

Walmart has partnered with an American clinical laboratory called Quest Diagnostics and drone services provider DroneUp to launch trial deliveries of collection kits in North Las Vegas starting this week, and Cheektowaga, New York in early October.

“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 says.

“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.”

In order to qualify for drone delivery of the COVID-19 self-collection kits, patients must live in a single-family residence within a one-mile radius of the designated Supercenters in North Las Vegas and Cheektowaga. Depending on the location of cars and trees, the kits will land on the driveway, front sidewalk, or backyard of the customer’s home.

Customers that elect to receive an at-home kit delivered via drone will not have to pay a delivery or kit cost. Once the kits are delivered, the person will perform a self-administered nasal swab in their home and send their sample back to Quest Diagnostics for testing using the included prepaid shipping label.