NEWSOM, LICCARDO ANNOUNCE PLANS
US to provide 500 million free rapid tests but is it too late?
Government officials took new steps Tuesday to counter the rapid spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant, with President Biden promising that increasingly hardto-find rapid tests will soon be available for free, Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing a requirement for all California health care workers to get boosters, and San Jose’s mayor proposing what could be the state’s first city booster mandate.
The president’s announcement came a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that new infection rates of super-transmissible omicron have quickly overtaken the highly contagious delta variant that spawned waves of outbreaks through the summer and fall. Omicron
now accounts for about three out of four U.S. cases, although it is less prevalent in California.
“We should all be concerned about omicron, but not panicked,” Biden said, adding that those who are vaccinated can safely celebrate the upcoming holidays. “If you and those you celebrate with are vaccinated, particularly if you’ve gotten your booster shot, you should feel comfortable. You’ve done the right thing.”
Biden said that starting in January, his administration will make a half-billion free rapid COVID-19 tests available for U.S. residents to order online and have shipped to their homes as part of a stepped-up plan to help thwart a winter wave of omicron-driven infections.
But that may be too late for those who have been flocking to pharmacies to
buy at-home tests ahead of holiday gatherings or travel, only to find the shelves bare.
In Brentwood, a CVS on Balfour Road was sold out, and a nearby Walgreens had few left. In Walnut Creek, a CVS on Olympic Boulevard was sold out, and a Walgreens that was limiting purchases to four per transaction was down to just three — until one woman
bought them all.
In Oakland, Meg Duff, who was visiting from out of town, said she called four other Walgreens before finding the tests at a store on Telegraph Avenue.
“This one said they were almost out,” Duff said. “I had to wait for 30 minutes in the line at the pharmacy, but they have a few left.”
The president heavily promoted the importance of getting a booster shot as soon as someone is eligible and said his administration was ramping up efforts to promote vaccination and added shots. That includes deploying hundreds of federal workers to 12 states and expanding free testing sites and helping pharmacies get more supplies of vaccines to expand appointment times.
The president’s plan drew tepid praise and some criticism from medical experts. Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and a professor of molecular medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, said that Biden “announced solid plans,” but they fall short.
“That’s good, but a far cry from what should have been announced in light of uncontrolled spread of the delta and now omicron strains throughout the country,” Topol wrote Tuesday in a substack post.
Newsom’s new requirement for health care workers came in a two-sentence tweet from his office late Tuesday afternoon. The governor will visit Alameda County Wednesday to detail the plan.
In San Jose, Mayor Sam Liccardo proposed that the city, which already requires its workers and visitors to city buildings to be fully vaccinated, add a booster shot requirement, which many health experts have urged for better protection against omicron. The City Council will not take it up until at least January.
Other large Bay Area cities and counties didn’t indicate whether they would follow San Jose’s lead, but several medical authorities have called for changing the definition of “fully vaccinated” to include a booster if someone is eligible for one. Last week, Stanford University announced it will require students to get booster shots by Jan. 31.
The president heavily promoted the importance of getting a booster shot as soon as someone is eligible and said his administration was ramping up efforts to promote vaccination and added shots.
That includes deploying hundreds of federal workers to 12 states and expanding free testing sites and helping pharmacies get more supplies of vaccines to expand appointment times.
Acknowledging that many who are vaccinated and even boosted are getting COVID-19 as omicron spreads, Biden said the vaccines still appear to be protecting people from severe illness and death and called it a “patriotic duty” for people to get the shots.
“If you’re unvaccinated, you’re at high risk of getting COVID-19, getting hospitalized and dying,” Biden said.
Biden said his administration will send more emergency response teams and military medical staff to help overwhelmed hospitals in parts of the country experiencing sharp rises in cases, including Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Biden denied his administration responded too slowly to get tests on store shelves.
“I don’t think anybody anticipated this would be as rapidly spreading as it is,” Biden said. “All of a sudden, it was like everybody rushed to the counter.”
Topol urged that the administration change the definition of “fully vaccinated” to include booster shots and make them available at four months after the second Pfizer or Moderna shot instead of the CDC’s current six-month recommendation.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that a health ministry panel in Israel has recommended that people older than 60 receive a fourth dose of the vaccine.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford Medical School infectious-disease specialist who supports vaccines but has criticized lockdowns to combat the virus, said on Twitter he appreciated the president acknowledging the vaccines may not prevent illness and the emphasis on keeping schools open and allowing people to celebrate the holidays.
But Bhattacharya said he didn’t like the continued support for vaccine mandates, which he called “a destructive mistake that — even if it works to increase vax uptake — will cement distrust in public health.”