Makers of at-home Covid-19 tests scramble to meet demand as the Delta variant spreads and students and teachers head back to classrooms
Demand for at-home Covid-19 tests has risen sharply in recent weeks as the Delta variant surges across the U.S., causing test makers to scramble to keep pace.
Abbott Laboratories said it expects supplies of its at-home test to be limited in the next few weeks as it hires workers and reboots factory lines that were slowed or idled earlier this summer. Availability on Amazon.com of Abbott’s BinaxNOW test and a similar test made by Quidel Corp. has been spotty, and an at-home test made by Ellume USA LLC was out of stock as of Wednesday.
An at-home molecular test made by Lucira Health Inc. is out of stock on the company’s website. A company spokesman said Lucira is boosting production. Abbott, which has shipped tens of millions of at-home tests, scaled back production of its tests in early June and July, when demand was low, and laid off workers in Illinois and Maine.
“While there will be some supply constraints over the coming weeks as we ramp back up—we are putting resources from all over the company to help meet this unprecedented demand,” an Abbott spokeswoman said in a statement. “It’s difficult to scale up on a dime, but we’re doing so again, just as we did last year.”
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