Headline Roundup • December 21st, 2021
Biden Admin to Distribute 500M At-home COVID-19 Tests
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Biden administration will deploy 1,000 medical personnel from the military to help hospitals struggling from COVID-19-related inundations and staff shortages, and will purchase 500 million rapid tests to mail out to the public beginning in January. In addition, the federal government will create new testing sites in areas of New York City to combat a winter surge. The White House plans to set up a website where people can request the free at-home testing kits.
The actions come as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly, representing 73% of all U.S. cases. So far, the variant appears more mild and more contagious than the Delta COVID-19 variant. Reports across the spectrum suggest that people who are vaccinated and boosted, if infected with Omicron, seem to experience mild symptoms or none at all.
Outlets across the spectrum, especially on the right, highlighted how White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sarcastically dismissed the idea of mailing out at-home tests and questioned the potential cost of such a plan during a press conference on Dec. 6.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Paul Hennessey | LightRocket | Getty Images
The White House will deploy 1,000 military medical personnel to support hospitals facing a surge of patients infected with Covid this winter, and will purchase 500 million at-home tests that Americans can order online for free with delivery beginning in January, according to senior administration officials.
President Joe Biden will announce the plan in a speech later Tuesday addressing how the administration is preparing for the highly contagious omicron variant of Covid-19. Biden warned last week that the unvaccinated face a winter of “severe illness and death,” calling on them to get immunized and...
Matt Rourke/Associated Press
President Biden will announce new steps on Tuesday to confront a staggering surge in coronavirus cases, including readying 1,000 military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals, setting up new federal testing sites, deploying hundreds of federal vaccinators and buying 500 million rapid tests to distribute free to the public.
The measures, outlined to reporters Monday night by two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, come as coronavirus caseloads are rapidly rising around the country, particularly in the Northeast, fueled by the highly infectious new Omicron variant...
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
President Biden on Tuesday will announce the deployment of 1,000 troops to help hospitals reeling from COVID-19 and unveil a website where Americans can order free at-home virus tests in January, senior administration officials said.
He will also underscore the need for widespread vaccination and booster shots to avoid severe disease from increasingly common infections.
The administration said it is purchasing 500 million rapid tests that Americans can order for free delivery to their homes on a forthcoming website.
Also, Mr. Biden will order military doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel to deploy, as...
AllSides Picks
Red Blue Translator
Anti-vaxxer
Headline Roundup
ICE Detains Conservative Influencer Milo Yiannopoulos in Louisiana
August 28th, 2026
Headline Roundup
USAID Report Claims Over 100 UNRWA Employees Participated in October 7 Attacks
August 28th, 2026
Blog
Will Data Centers Create Blackouts? Examining Media Bias and Misinformation on The Tucker Carlson Show
Julie Mastrine
August 28th, 2026
