The U.S. slowly catches up on rapid COVID-19 tests – Axios

The White House allocated an additional $1 billion to buy millions of rapid at-home COVID-19 tests earlier this week.

Why it matters: Rapid tests can quickly determine whether you're infected with COVID-19 and at risk of spreading it to others, but lack of funding and slow approval has led to a dire shortage.

Driving the news: White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients told reporters on Wednesday that the new funding as well as an additional $2 billion allocated in September will quadruple the number of available tests over the next few months.

How it works: Rapid antigen tests which can deliver results in as little as 15 minutes are particularly useful for the current moment.

The catch: In part because of that utility, however, rapid tests have become increasingly difficult to find.

What's next: This week, the FDA also authorized a new lab-based test from PerkinElmer that can detect COVID-19 as well as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus a capability that should be especially useful this winter.

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The U.S. slowly catches up on rapid COVID-19 tests - Axios