Melville firm offering 15-minute COVID-19 test

Henry Schein, a provider of healthcare products, is now offering a rapid blood test for COVID-19 that delivers results within 15 minutes.

The test is aimed at assisting medical professionals in diagnosing the virus, providing fast results without additional instrumentation, according to a company statement.

The Melville-based company expects to have several hundred thousand tests available by the end of the month with “significantly increased availability” in April.

Because these types of tests measure antibodies, they can help assess the likelihood of both past and present infection. Tests are meant to be used as an aid to healthcare professionals in diagnosing the mid- to later stages of the infection.

Along with other information, such as the presence of symptoms, the tests may help healthcare professionals assess whether individuals have recovered from the COVID-19, including healthcare workers themselves.

“Henry Schein is committed to providing healthcare professionals with quality products they can rely on to care for patients,” Stanley Bergman, Henry Schein CEO, said in the statement. “Henry Schein has played a key role in providing point-of-care testing to health care professionals, and is now responding to the urgent need for wide availability of rapid point-of-care testing for COVID-19. This pandemic is an unprecedented situation, and making rapid diagnostic tools available to health care professionals is critical for detecting and mitigating the spread of the coronavirus.”