Facing winter surge, Biden pushing boosters, testing
President Joe Biden, confronting a worrisome new coronavirus variant and the potential of a winter surge, laid out a new pandemic strategy Thursday that includes hundreds of vaccination sites aimed at families, booster shots for all adults, new testing requirements for international travelers and free at-home tests that will be covered by private insurers or available at community health centers.
The push to expand access to at-home testing is a tacit acknowledgment by the White House that vaccination, which the president has touted as the path out of the pandemic, is not enough on its own. Experts have argued for months that masks and testing are also essential, and the need for testing will become even more urgent if the new omicron variant is found to evade protection from vaccines, which has not yet been established.
“We’re going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion,” the president said at the National Institutes of Health.
Biden’s announcement comes a day after the omicron variant was detected in the United States for the first time, in California. On Thursday, a second case was reported, in a Minnesota resident who had recently traveled to New York City.
Conquering the pandemic
— or at least bringing it under control — is by far Biden’s most daunting task, and it is especially complicated because it has become so divisive. He struck a theme of unity in his remarks, urging Americans to come together around his plan. White House officials, and Biden himself, have said the plan is aimed at keeping the economy and schools open.
Yet on Capitol Hill, Republicans threatened to shut down the government over Biden’s vaccine rules for large employers, even as the president spoke. Vaccine mandates have been held up in court, and Biden took pains to note that his current plan did not rely on lockdowns or vaccination requirements.
Biden is also imposing new testing rules on international travelers to the United States, requiring them to present evidence of a negative test within a day before departure. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is studying alternatives to quarantining in schools, including “test to stay” policies where exposed students remain in school, wear masks and test again to avoid infection. And he promised the free at-home tests would be available in January.
“The bottom line is this winter, you’ll be able to test for free in the comfort of your home and have some peace of mind,” Biden said.