Abbott Labs Has Shipped 566,000 Rapid COVID-19 Tests To All 50 U.S. States

Forbes ^ | 04/14/2020 | Bruce Japsen

[SeekAndFind]

In less than a month, Abbott Laboratories has shipped 566,000 of its highly touted “rapid” molecular tests for the Coronavirus strain COVID-19 to all 50 U.S. states.

The effort to get the ID NOW COVID-19 test to doctor’s offices, urgent care centers and temporary testing sites like drive-thru parking lot locations is a snapshot into the massive diagnostic effort under way in the U.S. Abbott’s ID NOW COVID-19 test can deliver “positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes.”

The test, hailed by Donald Trump from the White House and praised by commercial companies like drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance, was granted the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s “emergency use authorization” less than three weeks ago amid a growing number of agency approvals for more rapid molecular “point-of-care” diagnostic tests that can be used in temporary screening locations, doctor’s office labs and nursing homes to detect the Coronavirus strain COVID-19 within a half hour.

The FDA has escalated approvals of rapid “point-of-care” diagnostics made by other companies including Mesa Biotech and Cepheid which are also ramping up production to meet unprecedented demand. In Abbott’s case, however, the company has a much broader global presence than the smaller biotech firms.

“Through Saturday, April 11, we have shipped 566,000 of our rapid ID NOW tests to all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Pacific Islands,” Abbott said in a statement. “The majority of these tests have been sent to outbreak hotspots and we've asked that customers prioritize front-line health care workers and first responders. We're currently manufacturing 50,000 tests per day, plan to increase ID NOW manufacturing capacity to 2 million tests a month by June and are working to expand beyond that.”

[TigersEye]

I think Trump could have put the nation at tremendous ease if the same effort was put into pushing testing AND telling us about it.

Trump has spoken about that frequently.
Pence has spoken about that frequently.
The Two Most Hated Doctors in America have spoken about that frequently.

[bramps]

Testing for those with symptoms means nothing. That is the only category they talk about.

Want to watch live sports with an audience again?

Want to go into a mall, restaurant, or grocery store with complete piece of mind in an area where there has been a large number of cases again?

How about an airplane or a cruise?

We need large scale, simple, quick testing for everyone! Just tonite we heard about hundreds of thousands of ventilators being made. Trump showed a video of General Motors transforming it’s operations to build...

...ventilators.

THAT WE DON’T NEED!

And it’s too much for the greatest country in the world to put the same effort into making testing available that will safely open the country and not put the November election at risk which a second wave will do?

Stop telling us it can’t be done Mr. President and just get it done because eventually someone’s going to do it. And I hate to tell you who it will be if it is not you.

[TigersEye]

LOL