The military is also being brought in to shore up overwhelmed hospitals
President Joe Biden will send 500-million free coronavirus tests to Americans’ homes from January 2022. Picture: BLOOMBERG
In the speech, the president will again seek to reassure Americans that his administration can combat yet another resurgence of the virus, the second of his presidency. But he confronts a perception that the government was caught flat-footed as cases began to mount earlier in December and Americans began complaining that test kits, crucial to control transmission, had become scarce.
The CDC last week released studies supporting so-called “test-to-stay” strategies, in which students exposed to a case can remain in class under certain conditions. Still, there were 646 Covid-related school closings this week, up from 356 the week before, according to Burbio, a data service that aggregates calendars nationwide.
The president’s moves are an acknowledgment that testing capacity isn’t sufficient. Public health experts have also questioned the administration’s messaging on booster shots, which were initially made available to a limited slice of the population — the CDC director overruled an advisory panel that wanted even narrower restrictions — before eligibility was widened earlier this month.
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