Biden to focus on testing and vaccines instead of lockdowns this winter
US President Joe Biden has no intention of “locking the country down” this Christmas, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki – despite a domestic surge in Covid-19 cases.
The omicron variant now makes up to 70 per cent of cases in America, according to analysis from the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, but Biden will focus on testing and vaccines rather than restrictions in an upcoming speech today.
Ms Psaki told reporters. “This is not a speech about locking the country down. This is a speech outlining and being direct and clear with the American people about the benefits of being vaccinated.”
Biden will announce the US has purchased 500m at-home rapid test kits, which Americans can order online for free, in an attempt to keep spiralling cases under control.
The free tests are in addition to a plan to have health insurers provide free tests for Americans with coverage, which is expected to begin in January.
The country will also open multiple federal testing centres, starting in New York City ahead of Christmas, alongside bringing in over a thousand military medical personnel to support hospitals.
This outlook is in line with Biden’s political messaging in the run up to the 2020 election against former president Donald Trump, when he pledged to lock the virus down rather than the country.
As well as encouraging people to get a booster this winter, Biden will also hope to persuade the near 30 per cent of Americans who remain unvaccinated to get their first jab.
Approximately 61 per cent of the US population is double jabbed, with 30 per cent receiving booster shots.
The vaccine has become a tribal political issue in the US, with a noisy segment of the political right in America opposed to taking the vaccine altogether.
Trump was booed by his own supporters yesterday when he revealed he had the Covid booster, while attributing the success of the vaccine rollout to his Operation Warp Speed programme last year.
In a speech later today, Biden will note the Omicron variant is so contagious that it can infect vaccinated Americans, but they will be far less likely to get seriously sick.
An official told Reuters: “We will note that if you are unvaccinated, you are at high risk of getting sick. This variant is highly transmissible and the unvaccinated are eight times more likely to be hospitalized and 14 times more likely to die from Covid-19.”
However, Washington will not pressure state governors to re-impose restrictions this Christmas.
This is a stark contrast to Europe where countries such as France, Germany and Netherlands are either re-imposing social distancing measures and travel restrictions, or re-entering lockdowns this winter.
The UK has also pushed through Covid-19 passports and mandatory mask wearing, but has so far stopped short of rumoured plans for a circuit-breaker lockdown.
New COVID-19 cases rose nine per cent in the US in the past week, and are up 57 per cent since the start of December, according to a Reuters tally.
Health officials in Texas recorded the first known U.S. death related to Omicron on Monday, while the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has increased 26 per cent this month.
However, the latest data from South Africa suggests the variant is milder than the Delta strain with new cases tailing off over recent day.
Meanwhile the worries over cases doubling per day in the UK have so far not come to fruition.
The UK Health Security Agency has shelved former estimates of Omicron cases reaching 200,000 a day, believing the forecasts are no longer valid due to changed behaviour from the public after a series of warnings from the authorities about transmissions.
Daily Covid-19 cases in the UK continue to hover around 90,000 per day, while new Omicron cases declined by a third from 12,133 on Monday to 8,044 on Tuesday.