Currents News Staff
With a new surge comes a new plan: the White house is taking extra measures against COVID-19.
“We all want this to be over, but we’re still in it,” President Joe Biden said. “And this is a critical moment. We also have more tools than we’ve ever had before.”
Among the new initiatives is 500 million free at-home rapid tests to be made available to Americans starting next month; new or expanded vaccination and testing sites with increased access; the deployment of 1,000 service members and additional medical teams in January and February to hospitals overwhelmed by the surge.
The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says there will be new testing sites.
“We’re putting up about 20,000 testing sites,” Dr. Fauci said. “We’re getting half a billion tests very quickly, literally within the next few days.”
The president is also reassuring people who are vaccinated, but also warning those who are unvaccinated about the potential threat of severe illness.
“If you’re not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned,” President Biden said. “You’re at a high risk of getting sick. Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.”
The White House is moving quickly as the Omicron variant surges nationwide. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) projects 73 percent of new cases across the country to be the Omicron variant.
“If you are vaccinated and follow the precautions,” the president said, “we know well you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays as you plan to.”