Around New England

Maine Town Could Get 1,200 Jobs Producing Coronavirus Tests

August 28, 2020

One company is set to employ a large number of people in Maine to produce inexpensive coronavirus tests.

Abbott Laboratories has 800 employees between a lab and manufacturing plant in Scarborough and another plant in Westbrook, but it plans to hire an additional 1,200 employees in Westbrook — 300 permanent and 900 temporary, according to the Portland Press Herald.

The reason? The company plans to produce $5 coronavirus tests that give people results in 15 minutes. This announcement comes as the White House announced it would buy 150 million tests from the company in a deal worth $750 million.

Abbott reportedly claims that the tests will be 97 percent accurate.