Tinder Offering At Home Covid Tests
Contributed by: kellyseal on Saturday, March 20 2021 @ 10:18 am
Last modified on Saturday, March 20 2021 @ 10:32 am
To prepare for a surge of daters looking to meet in person, Tinder is giving away free at-home Covid test kits. The kits will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and will be offered on March 20th at 7pm EST – the first day of spring.
In partnership with Everlywell, the maker of federally approved Covid-19 test kits, Tinder will give 1,000 kits to people (500 couples) who have made plans to meet up, according to CNN[*1] . The kits come with a nose swab, which you use and return back to the lab to wait for results to post online, usually 1-2 days later.
The popular dating app company said that 40 percent of its customers under age 30 haven’t met in person because of fear of the coronavirus, so it’s hoping this will help ease some anxiety.
Lockdowns from Covid-19 have given a boost to dating apps this past year, with many reporting increased activity and engagement while people can’t meet each other in person. Many have scrambled to offer virtual chat features to keep people on their apps, too. Now that the vaccine rollout is in full gear and spring is on the horizon, online daters are feeling the itch to meet in person again – and dating apps like Tinder see this as an opportunity, too.
Tinder noted the phrase “go on a date” in conversations over the app hit an all-time high last month. “It seems with spring around the corner people are more ready than ever to invite their crush to meet up,” the company said in its press release about the test kits.
Still, public health officials have warned these tests are not risk-free. Since there is a window of time between when the test is taken and when the results come back, and then again when the date is scheduled to take place, there is opportunity to unknowingly contract the virus. They advocate for safety, which means wearing masks, having the date outside, or quarantining yourself between taking the test and going on the date as good measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Emergency Room Doctor and CNN Contributor Leanna Wen said the safest way to meet for an in-person date is if both people have already been vaccinated. "If two people are fully vaccinated, live alone and it's been two weeks since the second shot, then they can see each other safely," she said.
After a year of lockdowns, many daters are itching for things to get back to normal and to socialize once more. Tinder executives feel the tests are a good way to assist daters who are going to meet in person anyway. CNN also points out if you aren’t one of the lucky 1,000 to receive the free at-home test, you can still get tested for free at clinics around the country.