With the threat of the highly contagious Delta variant looming, demand for at-home COVID-19 tests is going up. So much so - that they can be tough to find.
Manufacturers, according to The Associated Press, said they scaled back due to low demand over the summer. They have already warned that it could take weeks to ramp up production and get the tests back on shelves.
Rapid tests offer advantages in that they can be done anywhere and have a 20-minute turnaround time. During a quick online search both CVS and Walgreens were out of some at-home COVID-19 testing kits online. However, some were available in-store based on a zip code search.
Some steps being taken by the Biden Administration are aimed at ramping up production.
"For one the federal government announced that it would be spending $2 billion dollars to purchase something like 280 million more of these tests to really have them available and to get those production lines humming again,” said Dr. Joshua Michaud, associate director for global health policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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The administration will also use the Defense Production Act to help manufacturers out.
"It prioritizes the inputs for the production of these kinds of tests so that the manufacturers can have access to the materials to produce them," Michaud said.
He also added that in the United States there are few companies that have received FDA authorization for the at-home, rapid test kits - meaning there’s less competition than in other countries to get them made.
To make rapid tests more affordable, big retailers like Wal-Mart and Kroger have agreed to sell them at a 35 percent discount for the next three months.
The latest COVID-19 numbers released from the L.A. County Department of Public Health indicate a slight increase in new cases and deaths. On Tuesday there were 1,238 new cases and 32 new deaths reported. That’s 242 more cases and 26 more deaths than the department reported on Monday.
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