After indicating back in June it would not, Health Canada now says it’s willing to consider approving home tests to screen for COVID-19.

The department had previously said it was worried Canadians might misuse them or misinterpret the results.

Home tests might be more likely to miss positive cases than ones done in labs, but advocates; like the Zoomers’  group CARP, claim they could more than make up for any reduced sensitivity if they can test many people daily or weekly, and are very unlikely to miss anyone sick enough to be contagious.

Similar to home pregnancy tests, the COVID-19 test kits were only found in research labs, but then last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved one, made by Abbott Laboratories.

It has not applied to sell the test in Canada.