President Biden to ramp up COVID-19 testing, help overburdened hospitals in new steps to confront omicron spread
President Biden laid out his plan for combating COVID-19 as the omicron variant is found in the U.S. and a poll shows rising frustration.WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is expected to announce Tuesday the purchase of a half-billion, at-home rapid COVID-19 tests and the mobilization of 1,000 military medical personnel to overburdened hospitals in an effort efforts to confront surging COVID-19 infections and the new, highly-transmissible omicron variant.
Biden will reassure Americans that the administration is prepared for the rising case levels, while issuing a"stark warning" to unvaccinated individuals who continue to drive hospitalizations and deaths, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
Mina said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been regulating rapid COVID-19 tests as medical devices instead of a public health tool, requiring companies to conduct clinical trials that cost millions of dollars and last monthsthe process of getting tests in the hands of American consumers, he said, and only a handful of COVID-19 rapid test manufacturers have kits available in the U.S., compared to the global market.
The White House also announced a $1 billion investment to boost the supply of at-home rapid COVID-19 tests in October, with the aim of making millions of rapid tests available to Americans as the holiday season ramped up.
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