A scientist at the Centers for Disease Control processes a COVID-19 test in this handout photo. Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
As COVID-19 cases surge around the country and scientists begin to get a better picture of a worrisome new variant circulating, President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out his strategy to control the pandemic this winter without putting new restrictions on the economy.
Biden’s plan includes a push to get more people vaccinated — both children who have only recently become eligible for the shots and adults who have chosen not to get vaccinated to this point — new restrictions on international travelers, an increase in federal resources available to states experiencing a surge of coronavirus activity, and a new order making at-home rapid tests available at no cost to people with private health insurance.
“My plan I’m announcing today pulls no punches in the fight against COVID-19 and it’s a plan that, I think, should unite us. I know COVID-19 has been very divisive in this country; it has become a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary. It shouldn’t be, but it has been,” Biden, who spoke with a strained voice and coughed a few times during his remarks, said. “Now as we move into the winter and face the challenges of this new variant, this is a moment we can put the divisiveness behind us, I hope. This is a moment we can do what we haven’t been able to do enough of through this whole pandemic — get the nation to come together, unite the nation in a common purpose to fight this virus, to protect one another, to protect our economic recovery.”
The latest strategy is being deployed as the 21-month pandemic enters a new phase. Despite millions of Americans this year having the protection afforded by a vaccine, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations appear to be in the early stages of a sharp increase similar to the way they exploded after Thanksgiving last year. On top of that, cases of the new Omicron mutant declared a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization last week are now being identified around the country — though not yet in Massachusetts — while scientists race to answer questions about this strain’s transmissibility and potential to evade vaccines.
Biden said he will begin requiring health insurers to cover 100 percent of the cost of at-home tests purchased by their members starting next month. The CVS website Thursday advertised at-home antigen tests for sale for $9.99 for a single FlowFlex test or $23.99 for a two-pack of the BinaxNOW rapid tests.
Baker expressed frustration this week that the federal government had not done enough to make at-home testing more available and affordable. The governor said he thinks “there is tremendous value in rapid tests that work as both a preventive device and a public health device and as a work and employment device.”
“In most parts of Western Europe, you can buy these for a buck on the street corner. And we have not reached the point in this country where we have that kind of supply available,” he said. “I mean, we have to fight for the supply we get currently to run our nursing home, test-and-stay program in schools, our congregate care programs, and our programs for inmates and correctional officers.”
The president said 150 million Americans will be able to get their private insurer to reimburse the cost of at-home tests and people without private insurance will be able to seek out a portion of 50 million at-home tests the government will distribute to health centers and rural clinics.
There were no at-home rapid tests on the market at the start of 2020, but there are now at least eight available to consumers, the White House said. Addressing concerns about the scant availability of at-home rapid tests, the White House said that the available supply of such tests this month will be four times greater than it was late in the summer.
