Federal Government to Send Millions of COVID-19 Tests to Nursing Homes

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a large-scale buy of diagnostic instruments and COVID-19 tests that it will distribute to the nation's 15,400 nursing homes in coming months. The agency will begin to distribute the equipment and tests next week to 2,000 nursing homes ranked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for being at highest risk for community spread of COVID-19.

The test instruments that HHS is distributing are the Sofia 2 from Quidel (NASDAQ: QDEL) and BD Veritor Plus from Becton, Dickinson (NYSE: BDX). The instruments use immunoassay tests that detect SARS-CoV-2 antigens in samples from nasal swabs in 15 minutes. Both systems have been granted Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Image source: Getty Images.

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Source Fool.com