ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — Maryland has joined a 10-state compact to increase its rapid testing in the state, acquiring 250,000 hand-held tests.

The compact, which includes Michigan, Ohio, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, Utah, Arkansas and Rhode Island, and Hogan said the goal is to buy 5 million tests- 500,000 per state.

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"This is a new generation of these rapid antigen tests which is much more accurate," Gov. Larry Hogan said.

Maryland was the first to acquire 250,000 rapid point of care antigen test systems from Becton Dickinson based in Sparks, Maryland, partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation.

The tests can give results in just 15 minutes. Scientists say it identified positive COVID-19 patients 84 percent of the time.

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"That's 84 percent of positive patients who could immediately be identified and allowed to be placed into quarantine," Charles Cooper, of Becton, Dixon and Company, said.

The systems will be used in nursing and long-term care facilities, juvenile detention centers and possibly in college dorms.

They will not replace the PCR diagnostic molecular tests the state is currently using, and the governor said it's just "part of the arsenal." Those tests will be tracked separately from the traditional testing and will not be included in the daily counts.

The initial purchase is roughly $8 million, Gov. Hogan said, coming from a CDC grant. Each test costs $30.

This will be meant to help states tackle isolated outbreaks and cluster scenarios, similar to those seen earlier in the pandemic in nursing homes and at poultry processing plants on the Eastern Shore.

For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.