1/ The reporting is unclear on this, but it appears Abbott Labs is voluntarily asking the White House where it should ship its limited supply of rapid-result Covid tests. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/01/scramble-rapid-coronavirus-tests-everybody-wants/

2/ Companies may seek WH guidance to maintain good relationships & ensure they continue to receive emergency use authorizations. E.g., Abbott indicated last week, when it received EUA, that it was "working with the government to determine where they can have the largest impact."

3/ Companies may also seek guidance voluntarily to stave off less voluntary controls by the administration, which the Public Health Services Act and/or Stafford Act may authorize.

4/ But this kind of voluntary consultation about where to ship limited test kits is deeply troubling for its lack of transparency. When CDC issues guidelines for allocation of scarce vaccines, those guidelines & criteria are made public. Not at all clear that will happen here.

5/ From a public health standpoint, rapid-result tests are most useful for health workers to determine who can safely continue to treat patients.

6/ As more tests become available rapid results are also useful in places w/ low community transmission where benefits of quickly telling a pt she's + are high if she then immediately self-isolates & contacts can be traced/tested to stop community transmission from skyrocketing

7/ These two priorities would pull tests in different directions w/ different political implications. The lack of transparency and this administration's demonstration of its willingness to politicize many aspects of pandemic response is a potentially deadly combination.

Note: these kits are for the clinical setting--for exposed health workers and patients in need of isolation. They aren't really relevant to surveillance-level testing (mail-in/drive/walk-thru. The reporting indicates the price point is out of reach for anyone other than hospitals