With just a few days left until Christmas, huge queues were forming all over the US outside the test centers today, as Americans are again faced with limited options to take the Covid-19 test.
In Boston, New York, and even California, the images are reminiscent of those of the first wave of the pandemic, about two years ago. But this wave, the “tsunami” of Omicron, as they call it, is now the fifth.
In the heart of the capital, the open-air free test center has long seen so many people: the queue made its way around a square to the small, white examination tents. About two weeks ago, 150 tests were performed there every morning. On Monday they reached 600 and today they were expected to exceed 800. For this purpose additional staff was recruited.
Michael Lyman, 56, waited about 40 minutes, a period he considered “rather short”. A positive case had been identified in his environment and he wanted to make sure that he would not transmit the virus to his children who would visit him from California for the holidays. Although he will know the results in time for the New Year’s Eve, many were annoyed because they will not receive them during the day. “I have to go home today,” explained Lia Kovacs, 22, who had symptoms last night in South Carolina. “I tried to make an appointment, but everything was closed and, so be it,” said the young woman, who was forced to take a day off from work.
Kovacs has given the Johnson & Johnson monosodium vaccine and is “somewhat anxious” to hear that its effectiveness against Omicron is diminishing.
Finding an antigen test in Washington these days seems very difficult: pharmacy appointments are all closed, the shelves for self-tests are empty. “We search the internet to buy self-tests but they are exhausted all over the city,” said Ellen Harrison, 75, who waited patiently wearing her hat as the Washington thermometer read 3 ° C. Earlier he went to a pharmacy that said he had a test, but left empty-handed.
This afternoon, US President Joe Biden is expected to announce the purchase of 500 million rapid tests. Citizens will be able to order them for free online, from January, and pick them up at home.
The federal government also plans to open other testing centers, starting in New York, before Christmas. Six of the available Wave Response Teams will be deployed to Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont, with 1,000 military doctors, nurses, casualties and other paramedics assisted. on February.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will also provide staff and more beds in hospitals, at the expense of the federal government. It will send 30 paramedics to New Hampshire this week, as many to Vermont and 20 to Arizona, and will deploy 30 ambulances to New York and eight to Maine.
FEMA will also build new vaccination centers, such as a mobile unit in Washington and four new mobile units in New Mexico, as the government seeks to reach those citizens (one in four adults) who have not yet been vaccinated. Hundreds of vaccinators will be sent to 12 states, territories and tribal areas.
The Department of Health is also expected to change regulations to allow pharmacists and physicians to administer vaccines in states other than where they work.
Due to the explosion of the cases, the elected mayor of New York Eric Adams announced that he was postponing the inauguration ceremony, which was scheduled for January 1.
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