Posted on 12/15/2022 10:05:01 AM PST by lightman
As part of its “Winter Preparedness Plan” announced on Dec. 15, the Biden administration will continue its free COVID virus at-home test program to address a potential surge in the winter months.
U.S. households can order four free at-home tests from CovidTests.gov. The Biden administration plans to start shipping orders during the week of Dec. 19.
Complimentary tests will also be available at major food banks, according to a White House statement.
The program was suspended on Sept. 2 “because Congress hasn’t provided additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests,” the CovidTest website reported at the time.
This week, the Biden administration said that it has reallocated American Rescue Plan funds to purchase additional at-home tests. Epoch Times Photo President Joe Biden gives remarks on the status of COVID-19 in the United States from the South Court Auditorium at the White House campus in Washington on Oct. 25, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“There remains an urgent need for additional COVID funding to help us stay prepared in the face of an unpredictable virus,” a Biden administration senior official told reporters.
“At the end of the day, we had to repurpose some of our existing money to focus on this important initiative as we are seeing cases go up. These are always hard choices, and we have to make trade-offs.”
In a statement detailing the winter preparedness plan, the White House said, “While COVID-19 is not the disruptive force it once was, the virus continues to evolve, and cases are on the rise again as families are spending more time indoors and gathering for the holidays.
“Throughout the COVID-19 response, this administration has been prepared for whatever the virus throws our way—and this moment is no different.”
Making free at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests available through COVIDTests.gov and food banks; and distributing more free tests at “trusted locations” like schools, community health centers, rural health clinics, long-term care facilities, and more than 6,500 Department of Housing and Urban Development-assisted rental housing properties serving seniors; are part of the Winter Preparedness Plan.
The Biden administration also announced on Dec. 15 that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is sending a letter to all governors “outlining key actions that he would like state leaders to take as they prepare for increased cases and hospitalizations this winter and reminding them of federal supports that are available for their COVID-19 responses.”
Setting up additional mobile and pop-up vaccination sites, and surge testing sites, are among the services available, according to the Biden administration.
Test to Treat sites, where people can get free virus tests and “get prescribed and dispensed safe, effective COVID-19 treatments right on site if they test positive and treatment is appropriate for them,” are also offered.
As part of the plan, the Biden administration will collaborate with communities to “open pop-up and/or mobile vaccination sites.”
Opening up to 800 pop-up clinics per week in Los Angeles County; expanding at-home administration of vaccines and free home delivery of treatments in New York; and increasing Chicago’s at-home vaccine administration program are among the elements of the collaboration, according to the Biden administration.
Guidance for nursing home and long-term care facility administrators regarding actions to reduce COVID-19 infections, hospitalization, and deaths will be offered.
“As expected, we’re seeing COVID cases rising in parts of the country following Thanksgiving. And while COVID isn’t the disruptive force it once was, we know that the virus will circulate more quickly and easily as folks gather indoors for the winter holiday season,” the senior administration official said.
There is little mention of masks in the plan, aside from promoting the previous initiatives of making millions of facial coverings available at pharmacies and grocery stores among other locations.
“We view masks to be just one important tool in an arsenal of tools that is part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat COVID,” the Biden administration senior official said.
As part of the year-end funding bill, the White House has requested more than $9 billion in Covid funding as part of the year-end funding bill. That attempt has been met with strong Republican resistance.
On Oct. 15, GOP leadership announced that, when the party takes control of the chamber in January, House Republicans will seek testimony from dozens of Biden administration officials and experts about the origins of the CCP virus in China and U.S. funding for virus research in Wuhan.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) released a list of 40 individuals Biden administration officials and health experts whom they will demand testimony from in 2023.
The list includes Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“Discovering the origin of COVID-19 is vital to providing accountability and protecting Americans in the future,” Comer said in a statement.
“Mounting evidence points to the virus originating from a leak at the Wuhan lab. EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. National Institutes of Health grantee, passed taxpayer funds to the Wuhan lab to conduct gain of function research on bat coronaviruses—research that may have started the pandemic.”
Jordan said that Americans “deserve the facts and the truth” about the origins of the virus.
“COVID-19 disrupted our lives and livelihoods for over two years: kids couldn’t go to school, small businesses and churches were closed, our economy tanked, and our freedoms were restricted,” Jordan said.
“If we had known the truth about the virus’s origins, we could have combated the virus in a more meaningful way at the outset of the pandemic.”
More false positives lead to more "cases".
More cases lead to more lockdowns.
And lockdowns lead to suffering.
This is like a Kafka nightmare. Covid is now like a cold. But Biden/Fauci are whipping this into ... another DC spending spree!!! Will lockdowns follow?
Who got the contract ($$$$) for producing MORE Covid-19 tests?
Testing for COVID is very masochistic.
I’ve ordered mine!
Not.
Anything to distract the masses.
Its like they have five buttons in front of them to push:
TRUMP
COVID
WHITE SUPREMACY
THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
RUSSIA!!!!
Meanwhile, Rome burns. Then again, maybe it deserves to if we have gotten to a point where people can ignore their own, real problems in favor of the nonsense manufactured for them.
“Hey, drugs are being pushed on my kids, who are also being groomed and sexualized, while my grocery and gas bill are too high to pay, while Russia is threatening nuclear war, while I am losing my job in favor of the minority hire of the month, while my car just got stolen out of my driveway, the guy got caught but is out on the street two hours later, BUT
OUR DEMOCRACY IS UNDER THREAT!!! I Need to focus on that, whatever it is.”
My last batch expired. They were available through the town and now at the libraries. I’m sure we pre-paid for a bazillion doses....half a bazillion expired...Bet there’s a continuing contract based on existing supply.
Yep. Follow the $$$.
I’m seeing an increase in the use of masks here in the suburbs well outside of Austin. The sheep have bought into it. The country has become a lost cause.
Hey. We are only $40 trillion in debt. Whats a few hundred million here and a hundred million there?
If our government actually gas about the health and welfare of its citizens, it would make ivermectin available otc WITH dosage charts at ALL pharmaceutical outlets.
But it doesn’t and so it won’t.
frogjerk:By testing for COVID you are only asking for totalitarianism.
I have taken the covid home test 5 times. One time I was positive with covid but not real sick, a minor flu. After testing I threw the results in the trash. I got thw test kits from my local health dept. They did not know my name or ask. I take care of my aging parents who live a few blocks away. Do I really want to give them covid?
Before you say I should not be going to see them if I am sick it does not work that way. I am their only caretaker. Yes I did not see them while I had covid until a negative test came up but I have taken care of them while sick myself in the past.
I am not sure how testing myself leads to totalitarism.
Which pharma CEO is he paying off now?
Does it bother anyone that we need food banks or that the Biden seems this is completely acceptable?
PCR is still the best quality test. A lab in Los Angeles reports falling SGTF (S gene target failure) indicating higher positivity hit rates. The lab caters to the Hollywood actors and related trades to ensure COVID is kept out of active productions. Sometimes there is a failure to detect COVID19/RSV/Flu and a broader panel is required to diagnose a sick, symptomatic patient. In some medical facilities, it is policy to NOT do that more comprehensive test. The consequence is a patient leaves without a conclusive diagnosis or treatment plan. Hospitals and insurance companies don't want the extra work and expense.
Unless the tests are updated to detect newer variants, they are likely to be useless. If they are sent out to everyone, they will sit on shelves in people’s homes til needed. Meanwhile the virus mutates and evades the tests. I’d rather get a fresh test kit from a pharmacy.
The ones medicare sent me last year are still in a drawer
Need to toss them, I guess
The acute phase of COVID is like a cold. I had BA.1 with razor blade sore throat, fatigue, malaise, a dizzy spell in the shower, blood in my urine, a persistent post nasal drip and a minor 99.2 "fever". It lasted 10 days. My senior poodle caught it from me. It killed her in 2 days.
It turns out that the virus remains in various organs well after the acute phase is over. Brain MRI tests performed before and after a SARS-CoV-2 infection finds a decrease in grey matter. Ongoing, sub-clinical damage continues. Cognitive tests can detect problems as well. It appears the "jabbed" have far more severe sequelae and are susceptible to multiple infections due to immune system suppression.
A "mild" case doesn't mean it hasn't caused damage or continues to cause damage.
Thanks for the info. I had covid twice and and now I am having memory problems. I am 60 and have had a awesome memory my whole life. Now, not so much. It’s frustrating.
What scares me is that my adult children have had the shot and covid after. What the hell is going to happen to them down the road?
I should clarify my comment - By testing for COVID (not at home) you are only asking for totalitarianism.
I have taken the covid home test 5 times. One time I was positive with covid but not real sick, a minor flu. After testing I threw the results in the trash. I got thw test kits from my local health dept. They did not know my name or ask. I take care of my aging parents who live a few blocks away. Do I really want to give them covid? Before you say I should not be going to see them if I am sick it does not work that way. I am their only caretaker. Yes I did not see them while I had covid until a negative test came up but I have taken care of them while sick myself in the past
What is the difference with you taking care of them in the past when you were sick vs now if you have COVID and are sick? The current strains of COVID are very mild and the real debate is how "dangerous" the original strains of COVID were when all of the absolute stupid "treatments" (venting and preventing treatment of symptoms with other offlabel medication) and preventative methods taken like lockdowns, quarantining the healthy, not allowing the sick to go outside in the sun and the like are really responsible for the large amount of deaths.
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