Nearly nine months into the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. and the Food and Drug Administration has finally given approval for an at-home test that can provide users results in 30 minutes.

That’s the good news. The bad news? The FDA has left plenty of hurdles in the way:

…at-home testing—and all its game-changing potential—is still being limited by government regulators, who will require people to get a prescription for the home test kit. Unless every single person gets prescribed the test via telemedicine, this ridiculous FDA rule has the potential to not only make at-home testing more difficult, less useful, and less widespread, but it could also put people at more risk.

Unfortunately, this sort of counterproductive meddling has been a recurring theme throughout the pandemic (and, well, always) for the FDA. The agency has so far been holding up at-home testing over paternalistic concerns that people would not be able to properly implement the tests or interpret results…

“Paternalistic concerns” is a polite way of saying government thinks you aren’t smart enough to take the test.