Okay, now do the math on loaves of bread that manage to make it into homes. Or rolls of toilet paper. If the price really could be down to $1 per test, and manufacturing capacity exists (or could be made to exist), the market would figure out a way to get these tests in enough places to be massively effective. And the government could even fill in some gaps.
The market would also find a way to jack the price up.
As with everything else, the market would simultaneously have offerings with higher prices and offerings with lower prices. There's not just one price.
The scale is enormous but so is the scale of actions we did take. Billions of dollars in aid to individuals and aid/loans to businesses. Government funding for operation warpspeed to develop vaccines. High unemployment and a reduced economy for months as the pandemic continued.
Exactly. This is literally chump change compared to how much did the pandemic cost the economy.