Page 2 - Testing Front News Today

But were still in it, and this is a critical moment. >> reporter: the presidents plan calls for addressing a significant deficit in testing with 500 million rapid covid tests to be sent to the homes of americans who request them. preparing 1,000 military service members to deploy to overburdened hospitals. new federal testing sites starting in new york city. on the testing front, its an about-face for the white house, with press secretary jen psaki dismissive of sending tests to peoples homes ju...

Cases. >> let me say again and again and again, please get vaccinated. >> the president drawing a sharp line between the vaccinated and boosted and the unvaccinated. making yet another plea for americans to take seriously the omicron variant that suddenly a majority of new u.s. cases. >> i know youre tired. i really mean this. i know youre frustrated. we all want this to be over. but were still in it. and this is a critical moment. >> reporter: the presidents plan today calls for addressing a si...

Has urgently tried to figure out how to address esthat. now you mentioned boosters and vaccinations certainly the primary component of defense. they will be standing up more vaccination sites trying to ensure that theres better opportunities to get shots notice arms. you talked about i think one of the most critical components and thats what the president is going to lay out and thats on the testing front. weve seen lines across the country, difficulty in getting rapid tests and the administrati...

Available everywhere? >> should we just send one to every american? >> maybe. >> what happens if every american has one test? how much does that cost and what happens that have? >> look, i get theres nuanced complexities on the testing front. whats the answer. whats the reaction and answer to testing? >> my and most of my colleagues was, yes, we should be sending one to every house along with high quality masks and low cost or rapid free antigen tests available at every drugstore, post office, c...

Infected. >> what did we learn from delta that we should apply to omicron? >> delta is -- yeah, delta is such a bad variant. and its funny because right now were sort of all focused on omicron. delta is whats killing a thousand americans every day. what we have learned is boosters are essential. you cannot get away with just two shots if youre six months out. what we have learned is that it rips through populations of unvaccinated people very, very quickly. and i expect that omicron, if it ends ...

Talked about yesterday. need to go provide a negative test taken within one day of departure. and domestic travel in march. on the testing front, expanded availability of tests. millions being shipped out to federal health centers. they will require private insurers cover the costs of at-home tests. they can be reimbursed by your private insurance. on the vaccine front, you have more clinics coming online, including family clinics. that is what the biden administration is announcing today. clini...

Kids on the testing front. should this be mandatory, given schools are a mix of unvaccinated and vaccinated? >> you know, our schools are back and theyre back much of the year in colorado. we had a back to school task force early on. we think it is safer from a broad health perspective for kids to be in school for their own well-being and preparedness. a couple of poll strategies. if theres an outbreak in school, the school should be able to test back in, rather than have to go online, out of se...

There are times they have to be tested to release them back in but also need basic level of testing, it is a minor inconvenience, so it is fair to compensate people. >> i am curious on the testing front, this feels as if we have been behind on surveillance collectively as a country for months with covid, feels like we get more out of israel that gives us the next whats coming mind-set here. do you feel you get enough data from the cdc or do you need more? >> well, i wish they would act faster wi...