 U.S.
to invest another $1 billion in rapid COVID-19 tests
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[October 07, 2021]
By Carl O'Donnell and Alexandra Alper
(Reuters) -The U.S. government is
committing to purchase an additional 180 million rapid COVID-19 tests
for $1 billion, adding to the $2 billion test buying plan it announced
in September, a top U.S. health official said on Wednesday.
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 The combined purchases will help quadruple the United States' test
output by December to around 200 million tests per month, Jeff
Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said
during a press call.
"We'll continue to pull every lever to expand manufacturing
production of tests which will have the impact of driving down the
cost per test and making sure that tests are widely available and
convenient," Zients said.
The government will also double the number of pharmacies it partners
with to provide free COVID-19 tests to 20,000 pharmacies, Zients
added.
Surging demand for COVID-19 tests from U.S. employers has
exacerbated a nationwide shortage of rapid tests in recent weeks and
is driving up costs for state and local testing programs.
The White House in September said it plans to mandate weekly testing
for unvaccinated staff at businesses with more than 100 employees.
The U.S. government agreed in September to purchase $2 billion worth
of rapid COVID-19 tests from Abbott Laboratories and Celltrion Inc
to ship to nursing homes and other high risk populations as part of
President Joe Biden's plans to increase vaccinations and tests.
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 The U.S. government also has
agreements to purchase tests from other
manufacturers, including Quidel Corp., OraSure
Technologies, and Intrivo.
Earlier this week, U.S. regulators authorized
another rapid test from Acon Technologies that
can be taken at home. Zients said the test will
retail for around $10 per test.
The average number of daily U.S. coronavirus
cases dropped by 12% over the last seven days to
nearly 98,000, and hospitalizations dropped 14%
to 7,400, said U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle
Walensky said during the briefing.
She cautioned that deaths remained constant at
1,400 per day.
(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell; Editing by Leslie
Adler and Aurora Ellis)
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