In the absence of a national testing strategy for the novel coronavirus pandemic, seven governors have formed a first-of-its-kind purchasing compact that they hope will pressure companies that make rapid-detection tests to quickly ramp up production.
The governors, three Republicans and four Democrats, say that other states and cities may join them and that talks have already begun with one of the two companies approved by the Food and Drug Administration to sell point-of-care antigen tests that can detect the virus in less than 30 minutes.
Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan negotiated the deal during the final days of his tenure as chairman of the National Governors Association. His office said the Rockefeller Foundation is willing to act as the financing entity if needed.
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Each state -- Virginia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland -- would request 500,000 rapid tests, for a total of 3.5 million that could be deployed to address outbreaks.
Having access to that many rapid tests would reduce the need for states to rely on traditional testing infrastructure, which primarily involves private labs that have been beset by long delays.
"With severe shortages and delays in testing and the federal administration attempting to cut funding for testing, the states are banding together to acquire millions of faster tests to help save lives and slow the spread of covid-19," Hogan said in a statement. "We will be working to bring additional states, cities, and local governments on board as this initiative moves forward."
Virginia's Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, a physician by training, said in a statement that the states involved in the compact are "leading America's national response to covid-19."
"We are bringing together this bipartisan, multistate coalition to combine our purchasing power and get rapid testing supplies to our communities as quickly as possible," Northam said. "The people in our ... states want to see action, and we're delivering."
President Donald Trump delegated responsibility for building a testing system to states, which developed a patchwork system -- more robust in some places than others. As of Tuesday, 57.5 million tests had been administered nationwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the covid Tracking Project.
Hogan, a moderate Republican who has often broken with the Trump administration over the pandemic response, criticized the president for leaving states to secure testing on their own.
In April, as testing nationwide was scarce, Hogan bought 500,000 test kits from South Korea to great fanfare. But it took many weeks before all the necessary supplies to use them were in place, and The Washington Post reported that U.S. manufacturers had offered test kits for a lower price. Maryland ultimately exchanged most of the original test kits from South Korea for an upgraded version, which Hogan's spokesman said work faster and "better."
Nationwide, testing expanded dramatically through June, when caseloads began to spike. Backlogs at big national labs led to waits of 10 days or more nationwide, rending the results nearly useless for contact tracers attempting to control the spread of the virus.
The rapid tests being sought by the seven states are sold by Becton Dickinson and Quidel Corp., the U.S.-based manufacturers of antigen tests that can be run at a doctor's office.
Earlier this month, the FDA approved Becton Dickinson's handheld device, which can detect a coronavirus infection within 15 minutes. Quidel's rapid-screen antigen test, the first of its kind, was approved in May.
Rather than detecting the virus's genetic material, the antigen tests identify a protein on the virus's surface -- a process cheaper and faster than the more complex and more precise polymerase chain reaction tests being used across the country right now.
While health experts have heralded the antigen tests as a way to quickly screen large populations, they have yet to be widely available.
Quidel spokeswoman Jeannine Sharp Mason declined to comment on any potential discussions with the states. Becton Dickinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Hogan, in a statement announcing the compact, said he hoped that the states banding together would demonstrate sufficient demand for the companies to ramp up production.
The precise role of the Rockefeller Foundation was not immediately clear, but the Hogan administration said the organization would help facilitate the purchase of tests when they become available.