U.S. COVID-19 retests as infections flare up and schools reopen

August 27 (Reuters) – US companies skyrocket to boost production of increasingly scarce coronavirus tests as COVID-19 cases collapse and schools and employers recover surveillance programs that they will require tens of millions of tests, according to industry executives and state health officials.

Test manufacturers such as Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N), Becton Dickinson and Co (BDX.N) and Quidel Corp (QDEL.O) have in recent months reduced the production of rapid tests of COVID-19, which they can produce results in situ. minutes, as well as test kits that are sent to labs for analysis. The move followed a nearly 90% drop in testing and a similar drop in COVID-19 cases in the United States.

Abbott closed two production lines in Maine in June and closed a manufacturing plant in Illinois. At the same time, Quidel sidelined production from COVID-19 tests. Becton Dickinson had also reduced production in recent months.

Now, with the Delta variant pushing U.S. COVID-19 cases well above 100,000 daily, test manufacturers are working to quickly reverse course, industry executives and state officials told Reuters.

“We are hiring people and activating parts of our manufacturing network that were slowing down or slowed down when the guide changed and demand fell,” Abbott said in a statement.

However, test officials, including Abbott and Becton Dickinson, warned that there would be short-term supply restrictions.

“With the increase in Delta variant cases … there is currently some rigidity in supply as manufacturers increase,” said Troy Kirkpatrick, a spokesman for Becton Dickinson, adding that the company expects levels inventory “normalize over the next couple of weeks.”

Demand for COVID-19 testing has been driven largely by health care providers, employers and schools, he added.

Supplies could be tightened even further, as more state governments and private employers demand that staff be vaccinated or agree to periodic testing. Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) are among the top employers requiring regular staff testing.

Testing in schools is a top priority for federal and state officials, as a minority of the approximately 70 million U.S. school-age children have been vaccinated. Children under 12 are not yet eligible for shooting.

Demand for diagnostic tests has quadrupled in the past two months, from 250,000 daily in early July to nearly 1.5 million in mid-August, according to U.S. federal data. The data only keeps track of the diagnostic tests that are done in the labs.

This demand is only expected to grow.

More than half a dozen states, including California, Delaware and South Carolina, have established comprehensive surveillance testing programs for their K-12 public schools, while Pennsylvania and Arkansas are at least a dozen ‘other states developing similar plans. Even in states without such plans, many local school districts implement surveillance programs.

The Ysleta Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, expects to need about 40,000 Abbott rapid tests a month to monitor COVID-19 students, said Lynly Leeper, the district’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

His school district had been planning to close its testing program until the Delta variant sent cases that were skyrocketing in the state in recent weeks.

SUPPLY CHAIN ​​CONCERNS

Delaware, which was one of the first to launch a comprehensive surveillance testing program in July, has already begun to see some testing shortages, said Dr. Rick Pescatore, associate medical director at the U.S. Public Health Agency. state.

Rising demand for evidence has sounded alarms among federal officials, who are “concerned that people are starting to close our supply chain,” limiting the flexibility to respond to a rise in cases, Douglas Bryant said. Quidel CEO at Reuters.

Dana Lerman, medical director of The COVID Consultants, a group of physicians who provide COVID-19 testing services and advice, said the recent increase in surveillance testing “really underscores the supply chain.” June.

Even if testers are able to keep up with the growing demand from American schools, states will still face challenges that cover widespread testing costs, which experts say will cost the middle school district at least a million dollars every year.

Ysleta in El Paso said she hopes it will cost about $ 3 million to safely test her students this school year and trusts Texas to provide funding.

The Biden administration provided $ 10 billion to help states develop COVID-19 testing programs. Experts said the sum is much lower than what states will have to cover for tests throughout the school year.

“More federal funding will be needed,” said Dr. Antonia Sepulveda, president of the Molecular Pathology Association, which represents diagnostic testing laboratories, “so that institutions can continue comprehensive testing programs.”

Reports by Carl O’Donnell; Edited by Michele Gershberg, Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot

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