Joe Biden has admitted that he would have pushed for a major international program to distribute free Covid-19 tests in the past, as the US test results worsened before Christmas.
The US president announced this week that the government will purchase a 500m home exam and send it by mail, starting in January.
But he admitted Wednesday night that he would have issued the order a few months ago, as cities in the middle of the Omicron plague, including New York and Washington, DC, had long test lines.
“I do not think it is a failure. You could say we would have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago, “Biden told ABC news. I wish I had decided to call [the tests] two months ago. ”
The Covid-19 test is missing all over the US, as Omicron cases are on the rise and people are looking to get results before they go on vacation. While the White House has promised hundreds of millions more tests, it has not yet signed a contract to buy them and no refunds will be made until next month.
Currently CVS and Walgreens, the two largest medical chains in the country, have set limits on how many customers can buy at home; most stores just run out.
Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest manufacturers of home testing, said it saw “great demand” for its equipment.
Lines have been formed outside of state-run experimental facilities. Washington began an urgent test Wednesday from state libraries, which were immediately surrounded by long queues of occupants. Some told the Financial Times that they had been waiting in line for hours to get the test kits.
U.S. litigation continues to rise sharply, with daily morbidity and morbidity at 160,000 – more than double the previous month.
But Biden insisted Wednesday night that the country was better off than it was last winter.
“Last Christmas, we were where we cut a few people, the emergency rooms were filled,” he told ABC. “You had backup storage in hospitals that brought problems.
“We now have more than 200m people vaccinated,” he said.
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