On behalf of and in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense (DOD) awarded $6.5 million to U.S. Cotton, LLC, a subsidiary of Parkdale, Inc., to increase domestic production capacity of the polyester-tipped swabs used in COVID-19 home test kits and mass testing settings.
U.S. Cotton’s COVID-19 test swab is designed for hospital and laboratory settings and, when used at home, allows for an easier self-administered test. This effort was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to enable and support domestic industrial base expansion for critical medical resources.