WASHINGTON — A confluence of risk factors, including the rise of a new coronavirus variant, could have the United States on the cusp of a surge in COVID-19 cases, but wider and more consistent deployment of rapid, at-home diagnostic testing could provide a key boost in the coming months, experts say.
Rapid tests have never emerged as a leading public health tool in the United States, the way masks and vaccines have, despite the fact that their promise is routinely touted. “Rapid testing for COVID-19 is the way back to ‘normal’ life,” went the headline of a recent Seattle Times op-ed by Katharine Liang, a local physician.
Lashaun Pettigrew, a school bookkeeper,