White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx told reporters Thursday that Indian Health Services and rural areas without access to larger testing labs will be prioritized in receiving rapid-response coronavirus tests, David Lim reports for Politico.
The promise comes despite pleas from urban leaders to send the tests to larger areas already experiencing outbreaks, The Washington Post reports. But very few tests are available right now, so it may be a while before they can make much difference anyway.
The new tests, made by Abbott Laboratories, can detect the virus in as little as five minutes and can be analyzed in-house. If accurate, the tests would be a vast improvement over the current system that requires swabs to be sent off to larger labs, the Post reports.
Abbott said it will eventually be able to manufacture 50,000 tests per day, Lim reports. However, so far only about 5,500 test cartridges and 780 testing devices have been ordered sent to state and local public health labs, according to a leaked internal document circulated among officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week. "Labs in all 50 states were set to receive roughly the same number of Abbott’s test cartridges and the devices on which they run ― 100 tests and 10 or 15 devices — the document shows, regardless of how many confirmed covid-19 cases officials had reported in each state," Rachana Pradhan reports for Kaiser Health News.
The Food and Drug Administration is speeding up approval of rapid tests from other manufacturers, so more testing may be available soon even if Abbott can't keep up with demand, Matthew Herper reports for Stat.
The promise comes despite pleas from urban leaders to send the tests to larger areas already experiencing outbreaks, The Washington Post reports. But very few tests are available right now, so it may be a while before they can make much difference anyway.
The new tests, made by Abbott Laboratories, can detect the virus in as little as five minutes and can be analyzed in-house. If accurate, the tests would be a vast improvement over the current system that requires swabs to be sent off to larger labs, the Post reports.
Abbott said it will eventually be able to manufacture 50,000 tests per day, Lim reports. However, so far only about 5,500 test cartridges and 780 testing devices have been ordered sent to state and local public health labs, according to a leaked internal document circulated among officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week. "Labs in all 50 states were set to receive roughly the same number of Abbott’s test cartridges and the devices on which they run ― 100 tests and 10 or 15 devices — the document shows, regardless of how many confirmed covid-19 cases officials had reported in each state," Rachana Pradhan reports for Kaiser Health News.
The Food and Drug Administration is speeding up approval of rapid tests from other manufacturers, so more testing may be available soon even if Abbott can't keep up with demand, Matthew Herper reports for Stat.
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