A timeline for when tests will reach American households remains elusive. From obtaining the kits to packaging and mailing them to some 160 million households, the plan could take months to complete.
The president urged Americans to get vaccinated and announced that 1 billion at-home COVID tests will be soon be available for free.would be mailed out to American homes. On Thursday, Biden announced that he was doubling that promise and would now ship out another 500 million -- to make 1 billion in total.
But interviews with the majority of the biggest at-home testing companies suggested that it will be months before all 500 million tests could reach American doorsteps, meaning it's unlikely the average American will get free tests delivered in time for the January peak of omicron cases predicted by most models.
"The supply chain challenges have been an issue for tests as they are with so many other goods and services," said Mara Aspinall, the head of the National Testing Action Program at the Rockefeller Foundation, which connects testing companies with state governments. But for Biden’s plan, the government will use the U.S. Post Office to get tests out -- hopefully bypassing distribution issues that testing companies face when they have to figure it out for themselves by using a massive government institution that successfully delivered over 13 billion pieces of mail and packages for the holidays with an average delivery time of less than 3 days.
As for the testing companies, Biden’s latest plan shows a commitment to avoiding the mistakes revealed by omicron.
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