Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday that half a billion at- home coronaviruses tests will be sent to the American public to fight the Omicron variant.
The White House is working on a renewed effort that includes the Pentagon calling up 1,000 troops to deploy to hard-hit hospitals and the Federal Emergency Management Agency working to expand medical capacity.
As Covid-19 rages across America, there is no indication that the president will discourage holiday gatherings, impose vaccine mandates for domestic air travel or seek a new round of lockdowns.
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The Covid-19 variant is now dominated by Omicron.
Theguardian.com/world/2021/dec-20/us-covid-omicron-coronaviruses
Omicron is the dominant version in the US, accounting for three in four new infections last week, according to federal health officials. Biden, who earlier this month unveiled a winter plan to combat the pandemic dogging his political fortunes, has had to revise his strategy.
In an address from the White House on Tuesday, he will announce that his administration is buying 500m at- home, rapid tests this winter to be distributed for free to Americans who want them, with initial delivery starting next month. People can order them to be delivered for free on a website.
The White House was under pressure to make free tests more widely available. Jen Psaki asked if we should just send one to every American. Critics wondered why the US couldn't follow the UK's example.
The first delivery of the tests will be in January, according to a senior administration official. We are setting up a system to get those tests out to Americans. We are working to finalize those distribution mechanisms and we will share more details in the weeks ahead.
Long lines have been seen at testing sites in major cities because of the increase in Omicron infections. Biden will announce new testing sites. New York just reported a record number of new daily cases, and will be the first to have one.
New pop-up vaccination clinics and deployment of additional vaccinators are some of the additional steps Biden will unveil. More than 70% of adult Americans are fully protected.
He will make clear that unvaccinated individuals will continue to drive hospitalizations and deaths if they choose to remain unvaccinated. That is not trying to frighten people, but maybe it is trying to make clear to people in the country what the risks are if they don't get vaccinations.
Hospitals are battling rising Omicron hospitalisations, mostly among the unvaccinated, with some near breaking point. More than 60 winter Covid-19 emergency response team deployment were made available to states by Biden.
He will order the defense secretary to prepare an additional 1,000 military doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other medical personnel to deploy to hospitals during January and February.
The official said that the doctors and nurses will be ready to go to the hospitals that need them. We will not need all of these servicemen and women, but if we do, they are ready and they are mobilised.
Six emergency response teams with more than 100 clinical personnel and paramedics are going to six states now. 300 federal medical personnel were deployed in response to Omicron.
In addition, Biden is instructing Fema to work with every state and territory to assess hospital needs ahead of winter and to begin expanding hospital bed capacity now.
A White House fact sheet states that Fema is ready to deploy hundreds of ambulances and emergency medical teams so that if one hospital fills up, they can transport patients to open beds in other facilities.
The US government has hundreds of millions of N-95 masks, billions of gloves, tens of millions of gowns, and more than 100,000 ventilators in its strategic national stockpile. The administration sent ventilators to states such as Indiana, Michigan, Maine, and New Hampshire.
Even without the extra dose, the vaccine still offers strong protection against severe illness and death, even if the booster shot is needed.
The senior administration official said that the American people should take all Omicron seriously but that this is a cause for concern.
We have the planning and the tools to get through this. If you got your booster shot, you are protected.
