CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens locations have been selling out of the at-home version, and Amazon shows shipping delays of up to three weeks. Yet Abbott has reportedly told thousands of newly interested companies that it cannot equip their testing programs in the near future. But now, amid a new surge in infections, steps the company took to eliminate stock and wind down manufacturing are proving untimely - hobbling efforts to expand screening as the highly contagious Delta variant rages across the country.Дemand for the 15-minute antigen test, BinaxNOW, is soaring again as people return to schools and offices. plummeted this spring, so did AbbottвЂ™s Covid-testing sales. вЂњThis is all about money.вЂќДЄs virus cases in the U.S. вЂњThe numbers are going down,вЂќ he told the workers of the demand for testing, saying it wasnвЂ™t their fault. The company canceled contracts with suppliers and shuttered the only other plant making the test, in Illinois, dismissing a work force of 2,000. Soon afterward, Andy Wilkinson, a site manager for Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer, stood before rows of employees to announce layoffs. 29, 2021ДЄbbott LaboratoriesвЂ™ factory in Westbrook, Maine, a major supplier of coronavirus tests.Ryan David Brown for The New York TimesДЇor weeks in June and July, workers at a Maine factory making one of AmericaвЂ™s most popular rapid tests for Covid-19 were given a task that shocked them: take apart millions of the products they had worked so hard to create and stuff them into garbage bags. is facing a surge in infections with diminished capacity.вЂ‹Published Aug. Maker of Popular Covid Test Told Factory to Destroy InventoryвЂ‹ One of the leading producers of rapid tests purged supplies and laid off workers as sales dwindled. Maker of Popular Covid Test Told Factory to Destroy Inventory ( Note: This was published before the holiday surge - they knew we already had a shortage and couldnвЂ™t meet demands in the fall) (ItвЂ™s also possible that the tests were not accurate for delta let alone omicron, who knowsвЂ¦) The Biden administration has pulled more than $2 billion out of programs authorized by Congress for COVID-19 testing, emergency medical supplies and other health needs - and is spending it on shelter for the 45,000 unaccompanied migrant children that have flooded across the US border this year.Д«iden admin diverts $2B from COVID, health spending to care for migrant kidsДЄlso, I think Abbot labs destroyed all those tests over the summer because the white house went all in on vaccination and wanted to just let the virus rip.

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