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Feds Invest $481 Million in Rapid COVID Test Used by NBA

“If it’s good enough for LeBron, we want to democratize it and make sure it’s available to the American people,” said Admiral Brett Giroir.

The federal government is investing $481 million in a start-up that created a rapid, point-of-care COVID-19 diagnostic test used by the National Basketball Association in its famously effective screening strategy, the White House announced on Tuesday. The investment in Cue Health will enable the company to increase production on the tests from a few thousand to 100,000 daily over the next several months. The test, which has about a 25-minute turnaround, received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June. “If it’s good enough for LeBron, we want to democratize it and make sure it’s available to the American people,” said Brett Giroir, an assistant health secretary leading the administration’s testing efforts on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Giroir also announced the investment to governors during a task force briefing on Tuesday.