US to ship 36.7 million rapid Covid-19 tests
to states by end of the week, HHS says
From CNN's Jacqueline Howard
The United States is on track to ship 36.7 million BinaxNOW
rapid point-of-care Covid-19 tests to states by the end of this
week, the US Department of Health and Human Services
confirmed to CNN on Monday.
"To protect seniors and to facilitate the continued re-opening
of schools, businesses and the economy, the Trump administration
prioritized scaling-up our state and national point of care testing
capacity," Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, the department's assistant
secretary for health, said in a news release on Sunday.
The BinaxNOW antigen tests, developed by Abbott, are intended
to help governors with reopening their states, according to the
news release. The federal government previously announced it
wants to deploy 150 million BinaxNOW Covid-19 tests nationally;
HHS confirmed to CNN on Monday that the 36.7 million tests are
part of that total.
But Giroir added in the news release that testing does not replace
following the guidelines of avoiding crowds, washing hands and
wearing a mask.
"Combining personal responsibility with smart, targeted testing is a
proven formula to prevent outbreaks — but we cannot 'test our way'
out of this pandemic," Giroir said. "Public vigilance in adhering to
precautionary measures is required — especially as we clearly see
the onset of mitigation fatigue."
Giroir had said on Sept. 1 that the Trump administration would begin
to send the low-cost antigen tests to states starting in mid-September.
On Sept. 28, Giroir said the 6.5 million tests the government shipped
to governors across the country that week were a “real step forward
in our testing.” At that time, Giroir said that production and shipment
of the tests “didn’t happen overnight.”
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