The Biden administration’s plan to send 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests to Americans for free will take weeks or months to fully execute, an ABC News analysis suggests.
Around 20-25% of New York City EMS workers are out of with COVID-19, 15 New Jersey hospitals are on"diversion" for some units and a maternity ward in a Florida hospital is temporarily closed.The Biden administration's plan to send 500 million at-home tests to Americans for free is an historic undertaking, but one that will take weeks or months to fully execute, recently released contracts and interviews with seven test manufacturers suggest.
In the last week alone, the U.S. has reported more than 4.1 million new COVID-19 cases -- the highest number of cases seen over the span of a week on record.And as cases soar, tests have become increasingly vital for basic day-to-day needs, including keeping kids in school and employees in the workforce.
Tests are then expected to ramp up in February after two newly authorized rapid tests hit the market, which could contribute tens of millions of tests to the government's supply. But it will take longer than just a month for testing companies to produce the half a billion tests promised by the government.
"We're running 24/7 to make 70 million tests per month with plans to surpass that," said John Koval, a spokesperson for Abbott. And two smaller companies, Becton Dickenson and Ellume, will contribute 20 million between the two of them.Fast action requires manufacturing capabilities that the U.S. wasn't prepared for, in part because of the unpredictability of the virus but also due to the country's vaccine-focused approach over the past year, which drove down demand for tests and left the country with fewer tests when it needed them most.
For its part, the White House did not pledge to deliver all 500 million tests in January, but to just begin sending them then. Officials have not provided a concrete timeline on when the full amount of tests will be delivered to Americans.
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