slowpoke
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(Reuters) - The United States is preparing to issue guidance on reducing “unnecessary” testing for COVID-19 as it works to cut turnaround times for tests, a senior U.S. health official said on Thursday.
Details of the guidance are still being hammered out but it would be aimed partly at discouraging COVID-19 patients who have completed home quarantine from getting retested before returning to work or school, said Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Speaking on a call with reporters, he said such unnecessary tests were “clogging up the system.”
U.S. prepares push to reduce 'unnecessary' COVID-19 testing: official
I didn’t like it being called “unnecessary” to test before returning to work, but the last part of the article is important. A point-of-care test instead. Sounds hopeful.
U.S. prepares push to reduce 'unnecessary' COVID-19 testing: officialThe U.S. government is trying to facilitate a transition away from lab-based tests, which can have longer turnaround times, to point-of-care tests, which can provide results in minutes and be conducted in a wider variety of locations.
The U.S. government expects there will be 20 million point-of-care tests per month available by September, Girior said.
Becton Dickinson on Wednesday said the U.S. government agreed to buy 750,000 of its point-of-care tests.