The 500 million free rapid tests to fight Omicron are not enough, experts say

According to public health officials who have been demanding more rapid testing for months, invoking the Defense Production Act to distribute 500 million free tests is a step in the right direction. But some fear it may be too little, too late. 

“500 million #covid19 tests sound like a lot,” Leana Wen, a former Baltimore health commissioner who now serves as a professor of public health at George Washington University, tweeted Tuesday. “But: 330 million Americans. If half want tests = 165 million. That’s only 3 tests TOTAL per person. Not nearly enough for testing to become the norm before school/work, and friends getting together. We need a plan for far more.”

“A start (finally),” added Eric Topol, director of Scripps Research Translational Institute, “but billions are needed to help prevent spread.”

The problem, Topol and others say, is that Omicron — and the enormous numbers of breakthrough infections it will generate — is about to make frequent rapid testing for contagiousness more crucial than ever before.

Yet with case counts soaring and demand responding in kind, rapid at-home tests now appear to be largely sold out at Walmart, unavailable online and nearly impossible to find on pharmacy shelves. Where they can be found, they remain too expensive for many Americans to use with any regularity.

Biden's new plan is an acknowledgement of how the testing landscape has shifted — and how America's testing strategy needs to shift in response.   ...