The federal government will spend $230 million to help produce an over-the-counter at-home rapid test for COVID-19.
Andy Slavitt, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced Monday that the Defense Department and Health and Human Services will spend the funds to help Ellume, the maker of the test, to scale up manufacturing capacity.
Ellume can scale their production to more than 19 million test kits per month by the end of this year, and 8.5 million of those are guaranteed to the U.S. government, according to Slavitt.
Ellume received an emergency use authorization for the test in December from the Food and Drug Administration. The company has produced about 100,000 tests per month.
“The ability to quickly test, contact trace, and quarantine is a linchpin of our national strategy and will be a vital part of containing the virus,” said Slavitt, who is a member of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
The test, which is 95% accurate, involves a person taking a nasal swab that they then put into a digital analyzer. The results will be sent to the person’s smartphone in 15 minutes. The test can be used for people with COVID-19 symptoms and by people without symptoms who want to know that they can go to work or school without infecting others.
