HURON — In her press conference Wednesday, Governor Kristi Noem announced the distribution of eight Abbott testing units throughout the state. One of the locations that was to receive one of the units was Huron Regional Medical Center in Huron.
HRMC Vice President of Marketing and Communications Kim Rieger confirmed that this will be one of the Abbott ID NOW units that the hospital will receive on Friday to set up for use on site. The Plainsman will have more details about the setup and introduction of the testing unit at HRMC in the weekend edition.
Who is Abbott?

Abbott began in the back of a drug store in Chicago in the late 1800s and was first incorporated as Abbott Alkaloidal Company in 1894. Over the years, Abbott has been behind numerous breakthrough medical treatments and technologies, including the introduction of Pentothal, gaining approval of the first licensed test to identify HIV in blood, and most recently, breakthrough technologies in the detection and diagnosis of a plethora of different cardiometabolic diseases, infectious diseases, and in toxicology.
What is the ID NOW testing machine?
As of March 20, 2020, Abbott received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the use of the ID NOW system in detection of COVID-19. The testing unit is able to deliver positive results in as few as five minutes and negative results in as few as 13 minutes.
The ID NOW box is small, about the size of a toaster, and can be placed in a variety of locations. The size and speed of testing with this unit will allow HRMC staff to quickly make decisions in the ER with critical patients as they enter the hospital.
While the ID NOW unit is being sent to the hospital for use at this time, the state does retain ownership over the unit, so it may be recalled after the pandemic has passed, which would remove the opportunity to use the testing unit for operations that it has received FDA approval at this point, such as detecting influenza A & B, Strep A, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).