Iowa is set to receive 950,000 state-of-the-art BinaxNOW tests from the Trump Administration. The tests are part of the administration’s comprehensive national effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and to assist governors in the process.
The Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 point of care antigen tests are rapid tests which can diagnose COVID infections in as little as 15 minutes. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will decide how to distribute the tests. The distribution effort is expected to support testing in K-12 students, teachers, nursing home patients and staff, higher education, critical infrastructure, first responders and other priorities.
More than 461,000 COVID-19 rapid tests have been shipped by the Trump Administration directly to congregate care settings such as Iowa nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
As of Monday, more than 676,000 BinaxNOW tests had been shipped to Iowa.
“To facilitate the continued re-opening of Iowa schools, businesses and economy, the Trump Administration has prioritized scaling up the state’s point of care testing capacity by making this $760 million national investment in BinaxNOW tests,” said Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir, MD. “Distributing these rapid tests directly to states is consistent with the Trump Administration’s successful, ongoing approach of testing the right person, with the right test at the right time, is working and the effort will continue until the pandemic is under control.”
Based on preliminary feedback, Iowa is planning to deploy the tests to 54 K-12 sites and to 483 long term care facilities.
