Page 20 - Pcr Testing News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Six months ago, two months ago, a month ago. >> reporter: but many public health experts have been sounding the alarm for months. >> everybody saw it coming. we knew we needed more tests. i think the administration dropped the ball on this. >> we're still way behind on testing. >> frankly, a big problem is right from the start we didn't have a strategic plan about how testing was going to fit in with our response. >> reporter: and in october, anticipating a winter surge, a group of experts, including dr. michael minna, made an urgent plea to white house officials. >> tried everything i could t...

Other time in the pandemic because of how omicron spreads. so whether it's free testing or free masks or free vaccines or equitable access to therapeutics, we need to ensure those things are reaching those who are the hardest hit areas and that everyone has access to the tools in the toolkit that will keep them safe and protected. anything less is just really uncalled for and i think it's quite sad in a nation of this level of standard in development that we still haven't quite gotten right. >> dr. offit, dr. fauci said this about kids under 5 getting vaccinated, which they have not been able ...

People who are insured and for people who aren't insured, there will be an ability to get tests mailed directly to your home to go to a community health center to get a test. so access, affordability and capacity is really being built as we speak. >> the administration says insurance companies should start covering the costs of rapid tests by the end of the week and those 500 million test kits should start to be mailed to households later this month. but this is january 2022. he's been president for a year. are those big enough efforts to correct the previous year's failures on test, not to me...

Seen? >> well, with this surge the number of people that are seeking testing is higher than it's ever been before. and the number of positive cases is increasing more rapidly than it's ever been before. right now a third of our cases are positive. a third of our tests are coming back positive. that's higher than we've ever seen it before. >> and again, craig, that testing center was for northwell health, just outside of new york city. it services 19 hospitals. hundreds of outpatient centers. right now i'm standing in front of a testing facility here in manhattan. this says rapid testing. the o...

Think it's about kids being in the safest place possible but also safe not just from covid but safe for their well-being. >> yeah. you know, the biden administration announced that each month now they are going to distribute 5 million free rapid tests to school, 5 million free pcrs and i'm curious does that change anything for you? you have a robust testing situation already, and considering you have 640,000 kids in your district and you're trying to test them weekly. >> well, i think, you know, again, our positivity rates are lower than the overall county. that's a great indicator. there's a ...