WASHINGTON — President Biden will announce new steps on Tuesday to confront a staggering surge in coronavirus cases, including readying 1,000 military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals, setting up new federal testing sites, deploying hundreds of federal vaccinators and buying 500 million rapid tests to distribute free to the public.The measures, outlined to reporters Monday night by two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, come as coronavirus caseloads are rapidly rising around the country, particularly in the Northeast, fueled by the highly infectious new Omicron variant — just as Americans prepare to gather for Christmas.The 500 million tests that the administration intends to purchase will not be available until January, the senior officials said, adding that the government intends to create a website where people can request that tests be sent to their homes, free of charge. It was not immediately clear where the tests would come from.The plan for new federal testing sites will debut in New York City, where several new sites will be running before Christmas. And Mr. Biden intends to invoke the Defense Production Act, officials said, to accelerate production of tests.The plan has a more urgent tone than the winter pandemic strategy that Mr. Biden announced three weeks ago at the National Institutes of Health, just days after the new variant was discovered in South Africa. At the time, he promised that the 150 million Americans with private health insurance would be able to get reimbursed for at-home Covid-19 tests starting in mid-January, said his administration would improve access to booster shots and imposed new testing requirements for international travelers.But that plan — and Mr. Biden’s broader response to the Omicron variant — has drawn criticism from public health experts, who say the president has focused too heavily on vaccination as his central strategy. Many have called on him to be more aggressive about testing as a means of slowing the variant’s spread — including possibly sending rapid tests to the homes of every American, free of charge.Since Mr. Biden announced his winter strategy, the Omicron variant has exploded; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday that it has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the United States, accounting for 73 percent of new infections last week.“We have to acknowledge the reality that unfortunately, with a heavy heart, the virus is in charge and we need to take back control, and the only way to do that as a society is to test and isolate, test and isolate, repeat, repeat, repeat,” said Mara Aspinall, an expert in medical diagnostics at Arizona State University.Mr. Biden was himself exposed to the coronavirus late last week but has tested negative, White House officials said on Monday. With Americans already jittery about their holiday plans, he will try to reassure the nation while reminding people, yet again, that their best defense against Covid-19 is to get vaccinated and, for those who are eligible, to get booster shots.The White House is trying to avoid talk of lockdowns at all costs, and, to the consternation of some, has stopped short of urging people to cancel travel plans, avoid public transportation and the like.“This is not a speech about locking the country down,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters earlier on Monday. “This is a speech outlining and being directly clear with the American people about the benefits of being vaccinated, the steps we’re going to take to increase access, increase testing, and the risks posed to unvaccinated individuals.”The Coronavirus Pandemic: Latest Updates
Updated Dec. 20, 2021, 10:57 p.m. ETThe N.H.L. paused its season ahead of a holiday break.SpaceX reports 132 coronavirus cases at its headquarters in Southern California.Duke University joins a growing list of schools requiring booster shots for staff and students.But Mr. Biden will also acknowledge that the shape of the pandemic is shifting, the officials said. Breakthrough Omicron infections are common, though scientists believe that the vaccines will still provide protection against the worst outcomes. Many fully vaccinated and boosted people who are getting infected are experiencing mild symptoms or none at all.Mr. Biden will say that if people are vaccinated and follow other public health guidelines, including wearing masks in public places, “they should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays” with their families, one of the officials said.But beneath those notes of assurance from the president is deep concern among his advisers — and public health experts — about the ability of the nation’sBy: Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Title: To Fight Omicron, Biden Plans Aid From Military and 500 Million Tests
Sourced From: www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/us/politics/biden-speech-omicron-covid.html
Published Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2021 10:00:16 +0000
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