The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for Quest Diagnostics to begin pooled testing: One test technique increases capacity, allowing up to four test samples to be tested at one time.
The authorization comes as the United States tries to contain a massive resurgence of COVID-19, and the country reported more than 70,000 new cases of the virus on Saturday, according to a count by The New York Times.
The pooled tests are relatively simple: if the pooled test is negative, all four samples are negative. If positive, each sample is tested individually.
“Is [emergency use authorization] for pooling samples is an important step forward in obtaining more COVID-19 testing for more Americans more quickly while preserving test supplies, “FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement.
“Pooling samples becomes especially important as infection rates decrease and we begin to analyze larger portions of the population.”
The method is not novel, it has been around for decades and has been used during the pandemic by several countries, including China, Germany, Israel and Thailand. Pooled tests have also been used by the U.S. military since the 1940s.
An unpublished report by the White House coronavirus task force this week put 18 states in the “red zone,” meaning they all have 100 new cases per 100,000 people per week.
Throughout the pandemic, the United States has struggled to implement widespread testing, a move that health officials say can help track and stop the spread of the coronavirus.
In early July, numerous states reported long lines around the COVID-19 test facility, and some locations were completely untested. According to the Times, more than half of the states in the US are not meeting their testing targets.
Only 11 states, including Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, have met their testing targets.
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