Political | Process

The novel coronavirus is raging through Washington, D.C., which on Wednesday registered the highest per-capita rate of daily new cases in the country.

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• Jan. 22: Biden promises “a war footing to aggressively speed up our Covid-19 response, especially on vaccines and testing and reopening our schools.”

• Feb. 17: Biden announces “a series of new actions to expand Covid-19 testing, improve the availability of tests, and better prepare for the threat of variants.”

• March 11: Biden says, “We continue to work on making at-home testing available.”

• July 6: Biden says, “We’re going to deploy things like testing to expand detection of the virus.”

• Sept. 9: In a major speech, Biden says, “From the start, America has failed to do enough Covid-19 testing.” He promises to: 1) “use the Defense Production Act to increase production of rapid tests, including those that you can use at home,” 2) ensure that retailers such as Walmart, Amazon and Kroger “sell at-home rapid test kits at cost for the next three months,” and 3) “purchase nearly 300 million rapid tests for distribution … so that every American, no matter their income, can access free and convenient tests.”

• (So while he may have told Muir that he wished he “had thought about ordering” 500 million at-home tests “two months ago,” Biden already promised 300 million tests three months ago.)

• Dec. 2: In a major speech, Biden says, “This winter, we are going to make free at-home tests more available to Americans than ever before,” principally by mandating that “health insurers must cover the cost of at-home testing.”

• Dec. 6: In a White House press briefing, a reporter asks press secretary JEN PSAKI whether the Biden reimbursement plan is needlessly cumbersome: “Why not just make them free and give them out to — and have them available everywhere?” Psaki mocks the question, responding, “Should we just send one to every American?”

• Dec. 21: In a major speech, Biden admits his attempts to expand testing haven’t been adequate. “Because Omicron spreads easily, especially among the unvaccinated, it’s critically important that we know who’s infected,” he says. “That means we need more testing. And on that score, we are [not] where we should be.” He announces a new plan for the federal government to buy 500 million at-home rapid tests and send them to Americans for free.

SOURCE: POLITICO