The covid-19 testing shortage seen in the United States will soon be resolved, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House adviser on the pandemic, as the country faces a surge in cases due to the omicron variant.
“One of the problems now is that (the tests) won’t be fully available to everyone until January,” the epidemiologist told ABC.
“We’re solving the testing issue and soon that will be resolved,” he continued, also acknowledging his frustration with the lack of products.
On the occasion of the holiday season, the United States registered a particularly high demand for tests, especially kits for performance at home.
At the same time, the number of covid-19 cases continues to increase dramatically due to the spread of the omicron variant, averaging more than 175,000 new infections daily in the last week, according to data from the CDC, the main federal public health agency. .
These events are partly responsible for the “high demand” and the resulting shortage of tests, said Fauci.
“Obviously, we have to do better,” he said.
President Joe Biden announced last week that the federal government has purchased nearly 500 million kits that will be given away free of charge to anyone who requests them.
But these tests will only be available in January, generating strong criticism of the White House, whose strategy to fight covid-19 has focused mainly on vaccination.
On December 6, days after omicron was first detected in the United States, to questions from the press, presidential spokeswoman Jen Psaki simply replied, “We should send every American a free trial, right?”
Referring to the characteristics of the omicron, Fauci said on Sunday that it is an “extraordinarily contagious” variant, but he cited studies carried out in South Africa and the United Kingdom that seem to indicate that the cases are less serious.
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