Since September, the Biden administration has promised near 1 billion free COVID-19 tests for colleges, well being facilities, meals banks, underserved communities and the American public.
But as Christmas approaches and residents of New York and elsewhere line up for hours to get their noses swabbed, it’s unclear what number of tests have been ordered or despatched out to those that want them.
What’s extra, even when all of the tests promised by the Biden administration since Labor Day do get shipped out, consultants say it received’t be sufficient to trace and counter the fast unfold of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, President Biden promised 500 million free at-home fast COVID-19 tests could be out there to order from an as-yet-unnamed web site starting early subsequent month.
President Biden introduced at-home fast COVID-19 tests could be out there early subsequent month. EPA
That was simply the newest promise from the White House to ramp up America’s testing functionality.
On Sept. 9, Biden introduced that the administration was “committing $2 billion to purchase nearly 300 million rapid tests for distribution to community health centers, food banks, and schools, so that every American no matter their income can access free and convenient tests.”
Weeks later, on Oct. 6, the White House introduced “an additional $1 billion investment to further mobilize COVID-19 testing production and produce an additional 180 million rapid, at-home tests by the end of the year.”
The demand for at-home COVID tests will increase because the Omicron variant surges. Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/Shutte
On Dec. 2, the administration vowed extra tests could be coming, saying, “to ensure equitable access to free at-home tests for our uninsured and unserved communities, the President will double the commitment from September to distribute 25 million free tests to community sites to 50 million tests and will add rural clinics to the program.”
The White House and Department of Health and Human Services didn’t instantly reply to requests by the Post to verify what number of tests had been distributed since Labor Day. The Food and Drug Administration, accountable for making certain the tests previous muster, declined to remark and referred The Post to the White House and HHS.
“The proof will be in the pudding,” Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine on the University of San Francisco, advised The Post. “You know, if 1 billion is the total sum of the tests that are available, the answer is going to be ‘no’ because if, you know, if you just do the math, if you’re testing everybody coming into work, testing everybody coming into a restaurant … everybody getting on airliner – all the reasonable things to do – then you’re going to do far more tests than that.”
Wachter added that he was “confused” by the White House’s testing rollout, noting that whereas Tuesday’s announcement was “a start,” “you can’t snap your fingers and manufacture a billion tests tomorrow.”
“By the time they start rolling out in a major way into January, Omicron may be getting toward its peak, but I still think it will be useful because (A) there’ll be new variants, probably, and (B) as the Pfizer drug – which is also going to be in massively short supply – begins to hit its stride, you’re going to need a mechanism to tell if people have COVID in order to trigger a prescription for that medicine,” he stated.
Wachter additionally warned that tests could also be wanted on back-to-back days “in order to be confident that you’re not infectious.”
Jennifer Nuzzo, who helps observe testing developments with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, advised the New York Times that the White House announcement was “not a plan — it’s a hope” and added that the testing could solely have an effect if delivered in January and February as a substitute of being unfold out over a number of months.
The White House and Department of Health and Human Services didn’t verify what number of tests had been distributed since September. Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/Shutte
“500 million #covid19 tests sound like a lot. But: -330 million Americans -If half want tests = 165 million -That’s only 3 tests TOTAL per person,” tweeted Leana Wen, the previous head of Planned Parenthood and a public well being professor at George Washington University “Not nearly enough for testing to become the norm before school/work, and friends getting together. We need a plan for far more.”
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Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, referred to as the five hundred million fast tests a “start,” however famous on Twitter that “billions are needed to help prevent the spread.”
As of Thursday, Biden had but to log off on the contracts approving this week’s promised tests. White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the delay, telling reporters that the contracts are being “finalized” and that the administration has no concern.
Once the contracts are signed, the White House will doubtless face issues on the manufacturing facet of the rollout, as producers warn of elevated calls for. CVS and Walgreens – the 2 largest drugstore chains within the US – have been limiting prospects to 6 and 4 testing kits per buy.
As the White House seems to amp up their coronavirus testing efforts, the US nonetheless falls short in comparison with a number of different international locations.
According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the US is just testing 329 individuals per each 100,000 day by day whereas Spain is testing 3,118 per 100,000, the United Kingdom is testing 2,254 per 100,000 and France is testing 1,384 per 100,000.
While different international locations might need positioned extra emphasis on testing than the US, Wachter advised The Post that “I don’t know any country that got it all right,” noting that authorities within the UK have been extra prepared to chill out masking guidelines than within the US.
“In retrospect, this turns out to be a hard enough problem that we needed to do all of the above and we didn’t, clearly, at this point,” he added.
The president himself criticized his administration’s rollout of at-home coronavirus testing this week, telling ABC’s “World News Tonight” that “nothing’s been good enough.”
Despite the newest plan, President Biden has but to log off on the contracts approving the promised tests.AFP through Getty Images
“We’re nearly two years into this pandemic, you’re a year into the presidency, empty shelves and no test kits in some places three days before Christmas when it’s so important,” anchor David Muir requested Biden. “Is that good enough?”
“No, nothing’s been good enough,” Biden stated. “But look, look where we are. When last Christmas, we were in a situation where we had significantly fewer vaccinated — people vaccinated, emergency rooms were filled. You had serious backups in hospitals that were causing great difficulties. We’re in a situation now where we have 200 million people fully vaccinated. Two-hundred million people fully vaccinated. And we have more than that who have had one shot, at least one shot. And they’re getting these booster shots as well.”
The president did admit that he wished he “had thought about ordering” the tests “two months ago,” however nonetheless stated his administration’s response was not a failure.
