Nursing homes in areas that have low COVID-19 positivity rates began receiving rapid testing options from the federal government in November.
The Department of Health and Human Services distributed additional Abbott BinaxNOW tests to nursing homes in “yellow” counties, along with those in “green” counties, Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D., assistant secretary for health of HHS said at a media conference last month. Yellow and green are code designations for counties with lighter positivity rates and which, therefore, require less staff testing.
HHS announced the distribution of the BinaxNOW tests in early September, with the first shipments going to providers with higher positivity rates.
Overall, more than 36 million testing supplies had been delivered to nursing homes across the United States at press time.
From the December 2020 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
