Page 3 - Operation Expanded Testing News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Challenges we're hearing about covid testing? >> thank you so much for this very important question. testing remains a critical priority for this administration. when we saw the unprecedented cases of omicron in south africa and europe, we immediately reached out to our manufacturers to understand any supply con straights they had and to evaluate their surge capacity. we have also met daily with them to make sure that they have what they need from their suppliers and have used the defense production act authorities 12 times throughout this pandemic in support of testing needs. most recently in...

>> i'm out of time but i do want to say this. i am hearing from so many schools that are having trouble staying open. they want to stay open. part of it they have staff sick that's understandable but a big part of it is they don't have access to the safety measures like masks and testing supplies. what do i tell them where they go to get that? >> thank you, schools having enough testing supplies to stay open is a critical priority for us. we've invested $10 billion of the american rescue plan given to states to support and stand up testing programs. we've also invested $650 million in a progra...

Testing and therapeutic treatments to nursing homes. these facilities are suffering from an historic staffing shortage as well losing 230,000 caregivers or 15% of their workforce since the start of the pandemic. >> four million elderly are admitted to nursing homes coming from the hospitals who need rehab or finish therapy to go home. that's dropped way down and causing a backlog of people in the hospital and that's right when we need people, more beds in the hospital to take care of people getting sick from omicron. >> bill: connecticut is so desperate to free up hospital beds they're asking ...

Putin is testing. he is testing president biden, he is testing the united states. he is testing our allies. i think for a period of time putin has read weakness on the part of the united states. >> bill: do you agree with that, sir? >> absolutely. coming off afghanistan and with this administration and the legacy of the obama/biden administration that looked to reduce our overall effectiveness of our military modernization. both china and russia see weakness and why putin has troops gathering outside of ukraine. >> bill: mike turner thank you for your time and happy birthday to you. the congre...

The workplace. >> bill: one final question. i was at a small pharmacy last week when i was sick myself and they had an order for 2,000 home kits and can't get them and they don't understand why they can't get them. if one small pharmacy in one small time in long island, new york can't get 2,000 kits how will we get the 500 million kits? >> well bill, i would direct you to princeton university testing their professional -- college athletes three times a week. these are the lowest risk people on earth. many colleges are overusing tests and taking them away from people who really need them. >> bi...