In this article
The U.S. is planning a major expansion of coronavirus testing at retail health locations around the country, part of a plan to vastly expand checks for the virus and begin getting people back to work.
CVS Health Corp., the U.S. drugstore chain, said Monday it will open testing sites at 1,000 of its stores. The announcement coincides witha planned meeting between President Donald Trump and some of the nation’s largest retailers and lab testing companies. Other retailers are expected to make similar announcements at the meeting.
CVS will offer self-swab tests to people who meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria. People will be required to register online and will then be tested at a drive-through window or in a store parking lot. The company said it hopes to be able to conduct 1.5 million tests a month, pending availability of supplies and lab capacity.
If successful, the effort would represent a substantial expansion of testing capacity. Experts estimate the U.S. will have to run at least 500,000 tests daily to start to get people back to work. That’s about 200,000 a day more than the peak number of daily tests conduced within the last week, according to the Covid Tracking Project, a data group following test counts.
27,631 in U.S.Most new cases today
-17% Change in MSCI World Index of global stocks since Wuhan lockdown, Jan. 23
-1.075 Change in U.S. treasury bond yield since Wuhan lockdown, Jan. 23
-0.5% Global GDP Tracker (annualized), March