- President
Joe Biden acknowledged on Monday the shortage of at-homeCOVID-19 tests in the US. - Biden said his administration could be doing more to expand at-home testing.
President Joe Biden acknowledged on Monday the shortage of at-home COVID-19 tests and said his administration could be doing more to provide testing to Americans.
In a COVID-19 response team call with the National Governors Association, Biden broke down where the country stood in terms of at-home COVID-19 tests and the Omicron variant.
"We went from no over-the-counter tests in January to 46 million in October, 100 million in November, and almost 200 million in December," Biden said. "But it's not enough. It's clearly not enough. If we had known, we'd have gone harder and quicker if we could have."
Biden said his administration had purchased 500,000 more at-home tests to send to Americans who request them. He added that he planned to use the Defense Production Act to make more tests.
"Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do and we're doing it," Biden said.
He added that in-person testing had also increased under his administration.
"We quadrupled the number of pharmacies offering free tests, and there are now more than 20,000 places where you can get tested for free," he said.
His administration has also ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to open pop-up testing sites in busy areas like in New York City, and starting in two weeks, private insurers will be required to reimburse people for at-home COVID-19 tests. Biden added that the US would keep providing free testing for those without insurance.
COVID-19 cases are surging as the Omicron variant tears through the US, with the variant accounting for 73% of cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week.