Although President Joe Biden promised to deliver 500 million free rapid COVID tests to Americans in a speech on Tuesday, the tests may not come in time to suppress the enormous spread of the Omicron variant predicted in the coming weeks.
The Biden administration has yet to actually sign a contract to buy the tests, and the website to order them will not be up until January, The New York Times reported.
It is not even known how many tests will be immediately available or how quickly they can be shipped out to American homes, all while the most recent estimates of the Omicron spread predict more than 2 million new cases a day throughout January.
‘That’s not a plan – it’s a hope,’ Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Times.
‘If those tests came in January and February, that could have an impact, but if they are spread out over 10 to 12 months, I’m not sure what kind of impact it is going to have.’
Biden’s scramble to boost the nation’s testing draws parallel’s to the same criticisms he had of the Trump administration’s slow testing roll out when the pandemic first began.
The U.S. is currently averaging 148,384 new cases daily over the past week, a 23 percent increase from two weeks ago, and Omicron cases have increased by 19 percent day-over-day to about 2,084.
Joe Biden announced that the government would provide 500 million free rapid at-home tests for Americans during his Tuesday speech, but the contracts to provide the tests have yet to be signed as the nation braces for a COVID surge in the coming weeks
Along with the at-home testing plan, the US has bolstered its COVID testing sites across the US ahead of the holiday. Pictured, Washington DC residents waiting in line for tests on Wednesday
Dr. Michael Mina, another epidemiologist and former Harvard professor who previously urged for expanded test, said the government’s plan would likely take two to three months distribute tests.
‘Had this been started a long time ago, maybe things would be a bit different,’ said Mina, who recently became the chief science officer of eMed, which distributes at-home tests.
‘But this is where we are now, and we kind of have to deal with it.’
Biden’s plan could also face competition from state and local governments who thought of free at-home testing first.
In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan announced the state was partnering with Abbott Laboratories, a major manufacturer of rapid at-home tests, to deliver 500,000 tests to residents.
Colorado also began free testing distribution in October, as did dozens of cities in Massachusetts under the state’s free testing program.
Abbott Laboratories spokesman John Koval said in a statement that the company is seeing an ‘unprecedented demand’ for these tests and that the company was ‘sending them out as fast as we can make them.’
It comes as a stark difference from when the company had to destroy millions of tests in August over low demand just before the deadly Delta surge.
Biden had come to office vowing to expand testing for Americans to curb the spread of COVID, but his administration later focused primarily on the vaccination effort,
‘Testing unequivocally saves lives, and widespread testing is the key to opening up our economy again,’ Biden had said in June 2020 before the administration let testing fall to the wayside.
Now the need for testing come as confirmed Omicron cased to 2,084, up from 1,781, as of Wednesday morning, but that number represents only the tiny fraction of infections that are DNA sequenced.
Deaths have stabilized, with America averaging around 1,300 deaths per day – a steady figure for the past week and down slightly from two weeks ago. Encouraging new data from a leaked British study suggests that Omicron infections are less severe than prior variants.
On Tuesday, the US recorded 172,072 new cases – down from 253,954 on Monday – and 2093 deaths in a single day. The US recorded 1,513 deaths the day earlier. Since the start of the pandemic, the US has recorded 51.2 million COVID-19 cases and 810,045 deaths.
The White House also noted that it increased other testing methods in past months, including sending out 50 million free tests to community health centers.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the 500 million tests are the ‘biggest purchase that we have don to date.’
‘It certainly represents a significant commitment, a recognition by the president that we need to be doing more,’ she said.
Psaki’s comments come after she previously mocked the idea of sending out at-home tests nationwide on December 6.
‘Then what happens if you — if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?,’ she said at the time.
Psaki was slammed by medical professionals for appearing to mock the idea. Other nations, including those in Europe and Asia, send out at-home, free tests.
‘Should I have included that additional context – again and that answer is yes,’ Psaki said on Tuesday. ‘Going back I wish I would have done that.’
Her regret came the same day President Joe Biden announced a plan to ship 500 million COVID at-home tests to Americans in the new year and as people experience long lines and testing shortage ahead of the holiday season.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated she regretted her response on sending at-home COVID tests to all Americans – her original comment was made two weeks before President Biden announced such a policy
Two weeks ago, Psaki was criticized by medical experts for mocking a reporter who questioned her about at home testing.
NPR’s Mara Liasson, on December 6th, asked the White House press secretary why the government would not simply give out the tests free of charge to everyone, as is done in countries like the UK, Germany and South Korea.
Psaki met the NPR correspondent’s suggestion with apparent contempt, saying in response with a sarcastic smirk: ‘should we just send one to every American?’
‘Maybe,’ Liasson shot back, before again trying to point out the example of other countries, only to be cut off by Psaki.
‘Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?’ the White House spokesperson demanded.
Liasson replied: ‘I don’t know. All I know is that other countries seem to be making them available…in greater quantities, for less money.’
The testy briefing room back-and-forth quickly caught the attention of doctors and public health experts, who wasted no time raking Psaki over the coals for what one commenter described as her ‘terrible, flippant, wrong’ response.
‘Actually stunned by this response by the @PressSec @WHCOVIDResponse @WhiteHouse,’ tweeted Rick Bright, CEO of the Rockefeller Foundation. ‘We should remove all access barriers to rapid tests. They’re too expensive, in short supply & adding extra insurance barriers isn’t the answer. Yes, mail them to all Americans.’
Gregg Gonzalves, a Yale University researcher did not mince words, writing in a tweet: ‘this answer was terrible, flippant, wrong. Rapid tests are hard to get, expensive & could be a key intervention in fighting #COVID19. Other countries have figured out better ways to get these tools into the hands of their citizens. Do better.’
Dr Craig Spencer, Director of Global Health in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, pointed out that the US government has already spent billions of dollars of vaccines, so ‘tests should be no different.’
President Biden, meanwhile on Tuesday, tried to calm American fears about a pandemic surge just in time for Christmas.
‘This is not March 2020,’ he said, citing the fact that 61.5% of Americans are vaccinated and the country is better prepared.
He once again pleaded with the unvaccinated to get their shots.
He even credited former President Donald Trump, who said publicly that he got his own booster shot.
‘It may be one of the few things he and I agree on,’ Biden quipped.
Biden also acknowledged it can be hard to get an appointment for COVID testing – coughing into his hand as he made the point, as well as at another point during his remarks.
He spoke to Americans’ frustration with yet another surge. ‘We’ll get through this,’ he said from the State Dining Room of the White House.
He began his remarks by acknowledging ‘how tired, worried and frustrated I know you are. I know how you’re feeling. For many of you, this will be the first or even the second Christmas where you look across the table being an empty kitchen chair there. Tens of millions have gotten sick, all experienced upheaval in our lives.’
But he said the nation was ‘tougher’ than COVID, ‘because we have the power of science and vaccines to prevent illness and save lives.’
Americans have been experiencing long lines and delays in getting tested for COVID ahead of the holidays
As COVID cases soar across the U.S., health experts have predicted things will get worse in 2022 as the Omicron variant is expected to cause 140 million new infections from January to March, infecting 60 percent of all Americans, the majority of which will be asymptomatic cases.
Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington updated their COVID-19 model and expect the virus to hit the US hard come January, peaking at 2.8 million new cases a day by January 28.
‘We are expecting an enormous surge in infections … so, an enormous spread of Omicron,’ IHME director Dr. Chris Murray said told USA Today.
‘Total infections in the U.S. we forecast are going from about 40 percent of the U.S. having been infected so far, to having in the next two to three months, 60 percent of the U.S. getting infected with Omicron.’
Despite the surge, experts believe the new infections will ultimately lead to fewer deaths and hospitalizations than the deadly Delta variant, as Omicron is believed to be a more infectious but less severe variant.
The number of daily COVID cases is expected to more than double come January, with the Omicron variant predicted to cause about 140 new cases come March 2022
Daily deaths are expected to increase as well and peak at around 2,800 deaths by mid-February. The rate is predicted to be lower than last year’s winter surge
The projections showed deaths increasing from the current 1,500 a day throughout January before peaking at around 2,800 deaths a day in mid February.
It’s less than the more than 3,000 daily deaths recorded in January 2021.
Because the majority of those infected won’t feel sick or get tested, the researchers warned that the total infections will be underreported, predicting that only about 400,000 new cases will be reported every day as opposed to the more than a million.
Murray said that while the forecast may be pessimistic, it is within the area of possibility based on the current information scientists have on the Omicron variant, which now accounts for 73 percent of new cases in the US.
The good news, however, is that Omicron’s hospitalization rate is about 90 to 96 percent lower than Delta, which rampaged through much of the US in August.
‘In the past, we roughly thought that COVID was 10 times worse than flu and now we have a variant that is probably at least 10 times less severe,’ Murray said. ‘So, omicron will probably … be less severe than flu but much more transmissible.’
But other experts said it was too soon to make a judgment on Omicron and feared the variant might end up causing the biggest surge the U.S. has ever scene.
‘With omicron, we are seeing lots of infections, we are already seeing hospitalizations and – even though it takes time to die – we are already seeing deaths,’ Dr. Daniel Griffin, chief of infectious diseases at ProHealth Care and a clinical instructor of medicine at Columbia University, told USA Today.
‘It will take a little more time to know for certain about any relative severity as well as cross protection for reinfection with other variants after omicron infections.’
‘Nothing’s been good enough’: Joe Biden slams his own administration’s response to COVID and lack of test kits – but claims ‘nobody saw it coming’ about Omicron
President Joe Biden criticized his administration’s own handling of the coronavirus pandemic, admitting the response hasn’t been ‘good enough’ as the Omicron variant spreads like wildfire, leading to a massive surge of cases ahead of Christmas.
Biden, 79, echoed Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that no one saw Omicron coming, but said they were always alive to the possibility of new variants.
When asked by ABC’s David Muir on Wednesday how the administration had failed to see Omicron coming, Biden laughed.
‘How did we get it wrong?’ the president responded. ‘Nobody saw it coming. Nobody in the whole world. Who saw it coming?’
President Joe Biden said in an interview that aired on ABC News Wednesday evening that his administration’s response to the pandemic has not ‘been good enough’
Muir replied: ‘Did the administration not expect that there could be moments like this one where you’d have a highly transmissible variant around the corner?’
Biden said: ‘It was possible, and it’s possible there could be other variants that come along.
‘That’s possible.
‘But what do you plan for? You plan for what you think is available.
‘That is the most likely threat that exists at the time and you respond to it. And I think that that’s exactly what we’ve done.
‘And that’s – for example, Omicron is spreading rapidly, but the death rates are much, much lower than they were.
‘This is not March of 2020. This is a very different time that we’re in now.’
Biden said: ‘Omicron only really came on the scene just before Thanksgiving. We weren’t talking about Omicron six months ago.
‘But it’s just recent.
‘And so we are chasing Omicron.
‘But the fact of the matter is, you’re chasing whatever comes on the scene that hadn’t, wasn’t there before, and this wasn’t there this last summer for example.’
Muir pressed Biden on whether the administration had failed the American people.
‘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. Is that good enough?’ Muir asked the president, in an interview that aired on Wednesday evening.
‘No, nothing’s been good enough,’ Biden replied.
‘But look, look where we are,’ he added of the progress.
‘Last Christmas we were in a situation where we had significantly fewer people vaccinated, emergency rooms were filled, we had serious backups in hospitals that were causing great difficulties.
‘We’re in a situation now where we have 200 million people fully vaccinated. And we have more than that who have had at least one shot – and we’re getting these booster shots, as well.’
Biden sat down with ABC’s David Muir at the White House in an interview that aired three days before Christmas to discuss a range of issues – including the lack of testing kits around the country as COVID surges and American travel for the holidays
Asked if it was a failure of his administration, Biden replied: ‘I don’t think it’s a failure.’
He said: ‘I think it’s – you could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago.’
But he did express some regret about not ordering the rapid, at-home tests sooner.
‘I wish I had thought about ordering’ 500 million at-home tests ‘two months ago,’ he told Muir.
In July, Biden told the country that a corner had been turned in the fight against COVID.
He said he did not regret the comments, and stressed that it was an ongoing fight.
‘How are we going to do this? Are we certainly going to be able to overcome the Delta – excuse me, the virus, COVID-19?
‘The answer is: the expectation is yes, because we have the best scientists in the world.
‘We move so rapidly compared to other countries.
‘But we don’t know, we don’t know for certain, so that’s why.’
On Tuesday, Biden announced new measures to address the prevailing coronavirus pandemic as the latest variant interrupts thousands of Americans’ holiday plans.
During his remarks Tuesday and in his interview that aired Wednesday, the president assured vaccinated Americans who test negative that they can safely celebrate Christmas with their families this year, claiming the spike in cases is not indicative of another lockdown to come.
‘The docs who advise me on this are still saying if you are tested, if you know where you are in terms of having gotten your shots, there’s no reason you can’t get together with your family and your friends.
‘And we couldn’t do that last Christmas,’ Biden told Muir.
Asked why there was no vaccine mandate to get on a plane, Biden said he had considered it, but ruled it out.
‘It’s been considered but the recommendation I’ve gotten, it’s not necessary,’ Biden said.
‘Even with omicron. That’s the recommendation I got so far from the team.’
The president acknowledged during his Tuesday remarks that it can be hard to get an appointment for COVID testing – coughing into his hand as he made the point, as well as at another point during his remarks.
The administration, however, is facing backlash as a shortage of coronavirus testing kits ensued just as Omicron spread through the country and as thousands get ready to travel to see their families for Christmas this week.
The White House claims it didn’t predict the Omicron variant and holiday surge.
Massive lines have formed around the country for Americans to receive free at-home rapid COVID testing kits ahead of the holidays. Pictured: City residents wait in line in Philadelphia for their kits
Biden praised in his interview the 200 million Americans who are fully vaccinated
Cases have been surging in several hot spots, including Hawaii, Florida, Texas and New York as the Omicron variant spreads like wildfire across the country
Biden snapped when asked Tuesday if it was a failure that more tests weren’t available after experts who have advised the administration for months warned the nation needs a surge of kits.
‘No, it’s not,’ he shot back. ‘Because COVID is spreading so rapidly – notice it just happened almost overnight, just in the last month.’
In his July 4 speech on the South Lawn of the White House, Biden said the country was ‘closer than ever’ to gaining independence from COVID.
‘Do you think you over-promised?’ Muir asked.
‘No, we were closer to ever,’ Biden said. ‘But, there’s a lot we don’t know.’