Free Republic

Abbott Laboratories says it is ramping up production of its coronavirus test kits, including a new tool that could enable mass Covid-19 screening, as President Donald Trump seeks to reopen parts of the U.S. economy as early as next month. The company is on track to ship 4 million this month of its new antibody tests, which indicate whether a person has had Covid-19 in the past and was either asymptomatic or recovered, Abbott CEO Robert Ford said during an earnings conference call with investors Thursday. It plans to ramp up to 20 million shipments per month, beginning in June,...

In less than a month, Abbott Laboratories has shipped 566,000 of its highly touted “rapid” molecular tests for the Coronavirus strain COVID-19 to all 50 U.S. states. The effort to get the ID NOW COVID-19 test to doctor’s offices, urgent care centers and temporary testing sites like drive-thru parking lot locations is a snapshot into the massive diagnostic effort under way in the U.S. Abbott’s ID NOW COVID-19 test can deliver “positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes.” The test, hailed by Donald Trump from the White House and praised by commercial companies...