President Biden announced Thursday that the administration will buy another 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests for Americans, in addition to his plans to order 500 million announced last month.
NPR reports Biden said a website will launch next week so Americans can order the free tests. It’s still not clear when they will be available.
Biden also said the White House will make high-quality masks available for free, with details coming out next week.
The President again urged Americans to get vaccinated and get booster shots to prevent the further spread of the disease and to take the stress off hospitals and medical staff.
He also said six new federal medical teams will be dispatched to aid overwhelmed hospitals in six states, including New York.
Facing criticism over its response to the highly contagious omicron variant, the White House says that since Thanksgiving, over 800 military and other federal personnel have been deployed to 24 states, and that 14,000 National Guard members have been activated in 49 states to help with everything from clinical care to administering vaccines. The deployments have been paid for by the federal government with funds from the American Rescue Plan.
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