Biden Admin. Offers Free COVID Tests for the Winter

Facts

• On Thursday, Pres. Biden announced via tweet that his administration will resume providing free COVID tests to American households following the program's three-month hiatus. The announcement comes as the administration unveils its contingency plans for a winter surge in COVID infections.
• The White House will use existing federal funding to pay for the at-home testing program after it was unsuccessful to secure additional funding from Congress for the COVID response.
• The program was paused in September as the Biden Administration warned Congress that the high demand for the free tests would deplete the existing supply before the winter surge. Prior to the pause, the government had mailed more than 600M test kits to American households.
• As the US enters winter, hospitalizations are on the rise from flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and COVID infections. The Administration, as a part of a larger COVID preparedness plan, will provide federal medical teams to strained hospitals at the request of state governments.
• The Biden admin. also urged Americans to update their vaccine protection with the reformulated booster shots that rolled out in Sept. Only 14 percent of Americans older than age 5 have received the updated boosters.
• Since October, reported US cases Since October, reported US cases have nearly doubled, and deaths also increased for the first time since August. Health experts are concerned that the actual case count may be much high because of the prevalence of at-home testing.

Sources: NBCWashington, Reuters, Politico, CNBC, and New York Times.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Washington Post. Pres. Biden said the pandemic was over so mailing test kits is odd messaging. Providing additional funding for COVID is not a high priority for the House and is frankly off the table. The focus of Republican lawmakers is going to be on a long-term spending bill for the federal government and more important priorities.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by ABC. The Biden Administration has been very clear that funds are urgently needed to support COVID response efforts. Inaction will cause harm to Americans and force harmful trade-offs to ensure American safety. The consequences of not increasing the funding will compound over time, and if the US fails to appropriately prepare, an untimely surge will increase the overall burden on taxpayers.
• Cynical narrative, as provided by Intercept. It's important to remember the origin of the Biden administration's policy to mail at-home COVID tests to Americans — former press secretary Jen Psaki's public relations gaffe to sneer at the very concept. An avalanche of outrage followed, and it's a reminder that this move was prompted by a public who rightly demanded better access to health tools as a public good.

Predictions