The Biden Administration Will Spend $1.6B to Expand COVID-19 Testing and Sequencing
The White House announced Wednesday a multipronged effort to bolster the United States’ ability to test for Covid-19 in schools and homeless shelters, increase domestic manufacturing of testing supplies such as pipette tips, and boost genomic sequencing efforts needed to understand the spread of virus variants.
Biden testing coordinator Carole Johnson described the $1.6 billion for testing as a “pilot” that will serve as a bridge until Congress passes its massive $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill.
“We still don’t have enough testing and we don’t have enough testing in all the places it needs to be,” Johnson said.
Health officials told reporters that $650 million will be used to increase access to testing in non-medical settings, such as K-8 schools and underserved congregate facilities, including homeless shelters. HHS is planning to establish regional coordinating centers to organize the distribution of Covid-19 tests and coordinate with labs across the U.S.
