Sleepy Joe's New Plan
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No thanks. I will do a return to sender.
Biden to announce plan to mail 500 million free rapid tests to Americans next month
CHEYENNE HASLETT and SARAH KOLINOVSKY
Tue, December 21, 2021, 5:00 AM
President Joe Biden will announce a plan on Tuesday to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January as part of an attempt to double down on the spread of a transmissible variant that has hit the U.S. distressingly close to the holidays.
Biden's new efforts come as the omicron variant became the most dominant COVID strain in the country Monday, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all cases, and just as travel kicks off at nearly pre-pandemic levels for the holiday season.
The free at-home rapid tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them, a senior administration official told reporters on Monday night in a preview of the speech, marking a slightly different approach from European countries that chose to send tests to all residents.
MORE: Where are all the rapid COVID tests? Biden to address shortage in Tuesday speech
Americans will have to request the tests through a website that will launch in January, the official said, and its not yet clear how many tests Americans will be able to request per household.
The move is a significant departure from the White House's posture just two weeks ago, when White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed the idea of mailing tests to every American as costly and wasteful.
"Should we just send one to every American?" Psaki told a reporter on Dec. 6.
"Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?" Psaki said.
But the effort shows the consensus among White House officials on the need to improve the nation's testing apparatus, which was caught unprepared by the perfect storm of high demand for pre-holiday testing and a surge of omicron cases.
As a result, Americans have faced long lines and empty shelves this week as they attempt to safely gather for the holidays in keeping with CDC guidance, which calls for families to use at-home rapid tests as an extra layer of prevention before gathering.
PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks on the Covid-19 omicron variant in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Nov. 29, 2021. (Oliver Contreras/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Dr. Sam Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation and a member of their Pandemic Prevention Institute, said the government could have seen this coming.
"Scientists have been warning about the potential for new variants to come along for a year now or more. And we've known about omicron since the day before Thanksgiving. It's been weeks at this point," he said.
There will be other actions to get ahead of omicron outlined in Biden's speech on Tuesday, too, like new federal testing sites around the country -- the first several of which will launch in New York City by Christmas -- and mobilizing 1,000 military doctors and nurses to overburdened hospitals, the senior administration official said.
MORE: President Biden to make at-home rapid tests free in new COVID plan
The military aid will be five-fold the current deployment and could be a big boost to hospitals that have been running on fumes for two years.
There are currently 175 troops spread over four states, and since August 2021, when a joint military operation across the Army, Navy and Air Force began, about 530 medical military personnel have been deployed to work alongside civilian health care providers.
This will be the second time Biden addresses the nation about the omicron variant in less than a month.
In November, Biden announced a winter COVID plan that included beefing up vaccination and booster clinics to encourage more Americans to get protected and increase testing by getting insurance companies to reimburse the cost of at-home tests.
The 500 million free at-home tests that will be announced on Tuesday will be in addition to getting at-home tests reimbursed, which will go into effect on Jan. 15.
Noticeably missing from the new government efforts will be any attempts to enact further restrictions or lockdowns -- which some European countries have opted for as omicron has swept through their populations.
It will not be a speech about "locking the country down," Psaki said at a press briefing on Monday afternoon.
"This is a speech outlining and being direct and clear with the American people about the benefits of being vaccinated, the steps we're going to take to increase access and to increase testing and the risks posed to unvaccinated individuals," Psaki said.
Psaki also said Biden would deliver a "stark warning" for those that choose to remain unvaccinated.
"For those who choose to remain unvaccinated, he'll issue a stark warning and make clear unvaccinated individuals will continue to drive hospitalizations and deaths," she said.
Comments
Hmmm...., This can't be a plan geriatric Joe came up with because some parts actually make sense. Not adding any restrictions or shut downs is a good thing. Giving people home tests so if they test positive they can stay away from vulnerable grandma. Adding qualified personnel to hospitals to alleviate some pressure on front line health workers.
Of course it has not been shown yet that Omicron is much more serious than the common cold so all that might not be necessary. In fact Joe and his handlers are probably counting on it being mild so they can rack up some easy political points by claiming credit for less problems than the other strains caused. Bob
Psaki also said Biden would deliver a "stark warning" for those that choose to remain unvaccinated.
"For those who choose to remain unvaccinated, he'll issue a stark warning and make clear unvaccinated individuals will continue to drive hospitalizations and deaths," she said.
The gene pool will cleanse itself...
Yeah, I can do without the "stark warnings" and that is why I said only some parts make sense. It would be so refreshing if old Joe would just explain the options and leave out the hyperbole. Something along the lines of how they determined what recommendations should be given. Science works by coming up with a theory, also known as a wild * guess, and then trying to prove that theory through observations and testing. After 2 years you would think that some real proven conclusions about the virus have been made. Tell us those real facts and proven theories and then let us make up our own minds about how we should each proceed. Although I guess at least half of the population can't figure out on their own what to do so he has to dumb his talk down to the level of the lowest common denominator. I should say the folks telling old joe what to say, dumb it down because he is in the half that isn't smart enough to make up what little mind he still has on his own. Bob
Wonder if it's anything like the one he gave Putin?
News conference was nothing more than spending more federal money on testing.
The worlds biggest fool is running our country and there is nothing we can do about it.
Sounds like other than the test kits, Joe is going to do the same things Trump did. Send medical personnel to hard hit areas, check. Provide more hospital beds where needed, check. Vaccination centers, check. Send ventilators and supplies where needed, check. Nothing really new here but Joe tried to make it all sound revolutionary and something only he could accomplish. The sad thing is, a lot of people will believe him. Bob
How long before we hear about people requesting multiple test kits then reselling them for big bucks???
Is the new website to request test going to be the million dollar fiasco that the Obamacare web site was???
The government is running it, what could go wrong?
order all i can and sell them
Maybe a bit simplistic, but............
Say we all get the "free" tests in the mail.....and next Tuesday 200 million people test negative ON THAT DAY.
How "secure" should those 200 million people feel.............next Wednesday......Thursday.....Friday.......(you get the idea)???
As an aside.....(and as I've repeatedly popped-off about)......as long as the 2.2 TRILLION dollar money train has been in existence......we have been, and are continually being "SET UP". And "those" that have an "interest" in that train, will do ANYTHING to keep it chugging right along.....for a long as possible. BTW...."those" includes politicians, pharma, hospitals, doctors, nurses(traveling angels of mercy, at 10 to 12 grand a week plus room & board), clinics.............all the way down to to PPP fraudsters.
Once again.....my paltry $0.02 .
Sleepy Joes plan for American can be summed up in one word: Socialism
BTW............
I forgot to include in the "those" group.........THE MEDIA.....the mouthpiece of socialists everywhere.
Note....ever wonder exactly "who" is paying for ALL the covid commercials?? Hint....."all aboard"!
Credit my lowly self another $0.02.
OR, all those free hand out tests are pre-loaded with the next "new variant" to infect any/all who are dumb enough to use the 'test'.
Biden needs to find a cause for his flock after losing his build back better Agenda. Many doubt The Federal Reserve is going to increase the short term interest rates next year and I intend to agree with them.
He must pump stimulus at all costs to stay afloat until least The November election next year. Inflate until the bubbles bursts is the plan all along.
serf