Covid-19 testing shortage in the US to be resolved, Fauci announced

The scarcity of Covid-19 tests observed in U.S It will be resolved soon, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House adviser in the fight against the pandemic, as the country observes an outbreak of cases due to the omicron variant.

“One of the problems right now is that (the tests) will not be fully available to everyone until January,” the epidemiologist told ABC.

“We are addressing the testing problem and very soon that will be fixed,” he continued, also acknowledging his frustration at this shortage.

On the occasion of the end of the year holidays, the United States saw an especially high demand for tests, especially kits to perform at home.

At the same time, the number of Covid-19 cases continues to increase dramatically due to the spread of the omicron variant, with an average of more than 175,000 new infections daily in the last week, according to Sunday data from the CDC, the main federal agency. public health.

These coincidental events are partly responsible for the “high demand” and the resulting shortage of evidence, Fauci said.

“Obviously we have to do better,” he said.

President Joe Biden announced last week that the federal government has purchased some 500 million kits that will be given free to anyone who requests them.

But these tests will only be available in January, fueling strong criticism of the White House, whose strategy to combat Covid-19 has focused primarily on vaccination.

On December 6, days after the presence of omicrons was first detected in the United States, when asked by the press, presidential spokeswoman Jen Psaki simply replied: “We should send all Americans a free trial, right? ? ”.

Referring to the characteristics of omicron, Fauci said this Sunday that it is an “extraordinarily contagious” variant, but cited studies carried out in South Africa and the United Kingdom that seem to indicate that the cases are less dangerous.