With the United States struggling to meet the recommended quota of coronavirus tests per day, the Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization Friday for a COVID-19 antigen test.
The test, produced by San Diego-based manufacturer Quidel, can diagnose COVID-19 by detecting fragments of protein found on or within the virus present in samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs. The test produces results within minutes — much more quickly than many other tests on the market, which are more complex to conduct and analyze — but the technology is also more liable to result in false negatives, so an additional PCR test may be necessary to confirm.
But once production ramps up, so will the country's ability to test millions of Americans per day. Douglas Bryant, Quidel's chief executive, told The Wall Street Journal, they hope to have 200,000 tests available as soon as next week. Read more at CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
Crossword: October 19, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
