Biden administration to spend $1.6B to boost COVID-19 testing

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The Biden administration said Wednesday it will spend $1.6 billion to support increased coronavirus testing across the country, including an expansion of testing for schools and underserved populations, and increased production of testing supplies and virus genome sequencing.

As part of President Biden’s coronavirus response, the administration’s move Wednesday would "improve the availability of tests and better prepare for the threat of variants" of the novel coronavirus.

"As the Administration is working around the clock to vaccinate the population, we need to continue to do what we know works to protect public health: universal masking, physical distancing, and robust testing," the White House said in a statement, adding that these "down payments will serve as a bridge to comprehensive testing investments in the American Rescue Plan."

US ADMINISTERING 1.7 MILLION COVID-19 VACCINE DOSES DAILY, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

White House coronavirus testing coordinator Carol Johnson on Wednesday during the Coronavirus briefing introduced the plan.

"Thanks to President Biden’s leadership and his commitment to testing, we’re announcing that the federal government will invest $1.6 billion in three key areas—supporting testing in schools and underserved populations, and increasing genomic sequencing," Johnson said.

Johnson noted that the first $650 million would expand testing opportunities for K-8 schools and underserved congregate settings like homeless shelters.

The administration will also invest $815 million to increase domestic manufacturing of testing supplies and materials that have created shortage issues, including filter pipette tips, nitrocellulose use in antigen point-of-care tests, and specific injected molded plastics needed to house testing reagents.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said it would invest nearly $200 million to identify, track and mitigate emerging strains of the novel coronavirus through genome sequencing. The funds, according to the White House, will increase the CDC’s sequencing "more than threefold from about 7,000 samples per week to approximately 25,000."

The White House said that the increase in samples would "improve" the ability to detect emerging variants and understand their spread "with greater precision."

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"Expanded testing is critical to support more genomic sequencing, because sequencing only occurs after a COVID-19 test comes up positive," the White House said.

But administration officials added that the $1.6 billion are just investments that "are only the beginning of what is needed to expand testing nationwide to get the pandemic under control."Officials again stressed the importance of Congress passing Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which they said would invest $50 billion to expand and support testing, including in settings like schools and shelters.

The package would also invest in U.S. testing capacity so that public health officials "can track the virus in real time and Americans can efficiently get results."

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The House of Representatives is set to take up the legislation later this month.