US to roll out 8.5M at-home tests a month
Federal health officials announced Monday a $230 million deal to expand the use of a non-prescription at-home coronavirus test to provide about 8.5 million tests a month in the United States.
The Australia-based Ellume tests can detect the coronavirus with 90% accuracy and can be used for people with or without symptoms, Andy Slavitt, the White House senior adviser for COVID-19 response, told reporters.
The tests, which the FDA authorized for use in December, send results to users’ smartphones within 15 minutes, and the swabbing is less invasive than the nasopharyngeal swabs of other tests. “Making easier to use tests available to every American is a high priority with obvious benefits,” Slavitt said.
Meanwhile, Slavitt and other members of the White House COVID-19 response team urged states not to hold back on administering doses of vaccines in fears that second doses won’t be available three to four weeks after first doses were administered.
The U.S. has more than 26.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 441,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 103 million cases and 2.22 million deaths. Nearly 50 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 31.1 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
A second state reported a case of the virus variant first identified in South Africa. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan confirmed a case of the B.1.351 variant in his state Saturday. South Carolina reported at least two cases of the variant earlier this week.
Fauci: J&J vaccine ‘will be value added’
Dr. Anthony Fauci urged all Americans to get a vaccine when it is available to them and their turn in line, regardless of what manufacturer has produced the shot.
Johnson & Johnson released data Friday from its late-stage clinical trial on its candidate, which showed an overall efficacy of 66%. Fauci said that the data shows even more efficacy from the J&J vaccine at preventing the most severe cases of COVID-19.
“The thing that is important that you need to put into the equation: you want to prevent people from getting seriously ill,” he said. “We want to keep people out of the hospital and we don’t want people to die, and with that regard, this will be value added.”
Andy Slavitt, the White House senior adviser for COVID-19 response, told reporters that he does not expect an immediate dramatic shift in vaccine distribution if J&J’s vaccine were to receive emergency use authorization from the FDA. The company agreed to provide 100 million doses by the end of June, and Slavitt said Americans should not expect them all to be delivered at once.
Teachers unions challenge school reopenings
Teachers unions in several cities were facing off with school district officials Monday as some reopening plans that would bring students back to classrooms were set to begin this week.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Sunday evening that the city had not reached an agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union on how and when to reopen schools in the nation’s third-largest district.
Cincinnati’s teacher union also sued to stop the resumption of in-person learning at its schools, which were to begin blended learning over four weeks, starting Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a judge ruled that Minneapolis teachers who had work-from-home accommodations or were applying for them would not have to return inperson Monday, the Star Tribune reported.