Call me cynical, but nobody mentioned the need for accuracy before. There were a lot of complaints about not enough tests to go around and that the tests were being hogged for use on celebrities, so the natural solution was to make millions of placebo tests. Once Congress guaranteed that the tests would be fully paid for by a third party for anyone who wants to get one, entrepreneurs saw the giant opportunity. A box of Qtips has 500 sticks in it, easy $2000 profit per box. Lab testing is not necessary, just randomly tell people positive or negative. Who's going to know or complain?