About

My name is Caroline Hecht, and I am a senior in high school in New York City.

It was Christmas Eve 2021 and my sister, father and I were all quarantined in rooms with Covid. My mom had spent the past few days running from pharmacy to pharmacy, looking for at-home Covid tests, and she kept coming home empty-handed. There were people waiting in long lines all over the city for PCR tests, and I knew from our PCR tests that it took four days or more to receive results.

I started looking up local pharmacies and calling to see if they had any available at-home antigen tests. However, I decided to focus my search on independently owned pharmacies. To be honest, these were the only pharmacies to actually answer my calls! Moreover, I thought it was a good way to support locally-owned businesses. After all, if people are coming to purchase at-home tests, there is a good chance they also will need cough medicine (if they have symptoms) or just random things for the home, like toothpaste.

Most pharmacies did not have any tests. But I kept a list of the few that did. Eventually we were able to secure some tests for my family. With Covid spreading all over the city, pretty soon, friends and family were texting and calling to find out where we had gotten our test kits. That’s when I had an idea –

What if there was a website to let New Yorkers know where they could find at-home Covid tests?

As I have experience with start-up companies in response to the pandemic, I thought of no better way to help my community than by launching my own website, informing people of pharmacies with available at-home tests. Over the summer of 2021, I worked directly with Little Lives PPE, a reputable face mask and shield start-up business.

In order to scout out competitors, I researched companies selling the same products and found fewer than I initially predicted, revealing that we are in need of more companies in response to Covid. As Covid supplies are in such high demand, I hope to help my community stay safe and informed through this blog.

I’ll update this blog as frequently as possible, as pharmacies often receive new shipments. If you know of any pharmacies with tests, please email me at athomecovidtestingnyc@gmail.com!