States will start to receive new rapid coronavirus tests from the Trump administration in the middle of the month, The Hill reports.
On Tuesday, coronavirus testing chief Adm. Brett Giroir detailed the plan to get the rapid tests sent out.
According to The Hill, the $5 tests from Abbott Laboratories are able to return results within 15 minutes and do not require a machine to process the tests.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration awarded the rapid tests an emergency use authorization. The federal government plans to purchase 150 million tests, which will be sent out through the rest of the year.
Giroir said the “overwhelming majority” of tests will be sent to governors, and states will decide where and how to distribute the tests.
He said schools could be one place that governors could send the tests. He noted that some tests will be sent to assisted living facilities where residents are most vulnerable to contracting COVID-19.
While these tests don’t require a machine to read the results, they must be administered by a health professional, according to The Hill.
Currently, the FDA has not approved the new test to be used on asymptomatic people. But Giroir said that the test could be used for testing people without symptoms. He explained that when products are used beyond the uses the FDA has approved, it is known as “off label” use.
When asked if all Americans would have access to frequent, cheap tests that can be conducted at home, Giroir said that goal may not be possible. But, he added that the Trump administration is leaving “no stone unturned” when it comes to finding new testing methods.
“I don’t live in a utopian world,” he said.
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