Biden steps up COVID-19 rules
Attempt to reset U.S. response as the death toll approaches 653,000.
President Biden plans to announce what the White House labels a six-point “Path Out of the Pandemic.” The six prongs include expansion of rapid COVID-19 testing availability, a surge of federal health teams to improve access to life-saving monoclonal antibody treatments, and federal rules designating vaccinations as part of mandatory workplace safety programs.
The main points are:
Vaccinations: To boost the rate of vaccinated Americans, the administration is now ordering all federal workers, staff at federally funded healthcare settings and staff at federally operated schools to be vaccinated. New OSHA rules are also intended to force employers to require workers to be vaccinated and to take other COVID-19 precautions - and to give workers time off to get vaccinated.
Schools: Federal funds will be made available to support school districts whose funding is witheld by state political leaders who disagree with COVID-19 precautions. The administration also wants all schools to implement CDC-recommended testing programs to screen for COVID-19 cases routinely.
Testing: At-home test kits will be sold by Amazon, Kroger and Walmart at a discount, and more rapid tests will be distributed to local pharmacies and health centers. The administration is also spending $2 billion to purchase an additional 280 million test kits so that tests will be accessible, convenient and, in many instances, free, a senior administration official said. Free tests will be made available at 10,000 local pharmacies.
Masks: Fines for travelers that refuse to wear masks on interstate transit will face double the present fines for violations.
Economic support: Small Business Administration loans to businesses hurt by COVID-19 will be made more flexible, with the limit increasing from $500,000 to $2 million.
Treatment: More military medical teams will be deployed to support overcrowded hospitals, and more surge teams will be sent to states to increase use of monoclonal antibodies for treatment and prevention of severe COVID-19.
The White House also announced that it will defer to the FDA and CDC on when to begin allowing Americans to receive booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines. However, it defended the previous announcement that some boosters would be available starting September 20 as essential pre-planning so that healthcare providers around the country are ready to administer booster shots as soon as they become available. “The country lost precious time because we were unprepared to adminster shots” last December, the White House said.
In other news:
The CDC published a study of a college campus where unmasked individuals were 40% more likely to be infected after an encounter with another person who had COVID-19. The study was done on a campus where few people were vaccinated.
Upcoming:
The FDA’s panel of outside vaccine experts will review Pfizer’s booster data in a public meeting on September 17. If the panel recommends booster shots, the next step would be the CDC’s advisory panel’s endorsement of clinical guidelines.