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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 3 March 2022
macists already doling out
vaccines, prescriptions and
health advice are worried
about the extra time need-
ed if they add more CO-
VID-19 testing and treating.
"There's just a lot of consid-
erations that go into this,"
she said. "It takes far longer
than it takes to dispense
most normal prescriptions."
The administration said it
also stands ready to rap-
idly administer millions of
vaccine doses for children
under 5 once the vaccines
are approved by federal
regulators. While there
had been hope for the first
shots to be authorized last
month, Pfizer is now wait-
ing on the results of a study
including a third dose of
the vaccine for that age
group, and that will likely
delay approval until April.
As part of the new strategy,
the administration is calling
on Congress to reinstitute
tax credits for businesses
Students wear face masks and are seated with empty desks separating them from their classmates in a 2nd grade class at School that provide paid sick leave
16 in Yonkers, N.Y., Oct. 20, 2020. for employees who are sick
Associated Press with COVID-19. The White
House is also asking Con-
Continued from Front ID-19 dictate how we live." be worn in public indoor sire for the flexibility of work- gress for additional funding
More than 947,000 people That tracked Biden's speech settings, placing more em- ing from home. Many com- to invest in new COVID-19
in the U.S. have died from statement, "Tonight, I can phasis on local capac- panies' would like to get drugs, including research
the virus according to the say we are moving for- ity to treat serious disease workers back into offices. into the development of
CDC. ward safely, back to more than overall case counts. A key component of the pan-coronavirus vaccines
Wednesday's White House normal routines. It's time Now more than 70% of the administration's plan to that would prevent against
announcement follows for Americans to get back country can safely remove convince American that multiple strains and even
Biden's Tuesday night State to work and fill our great masks indoors, the CDC it is safe to resume normal several different types of
of the Union speech, in downtowns again." says, and the percentage is activities is the increasing viruses.
which he pointed to prog- COVID-19 cases have expected to grow as cases availability of an antivi- Meanwhile, federal officials
ress against the pandemic fallen to their lowest level continue to decline. ral pill from Pfizer that has emphasized they have
since last year, with a dra- since last summer in re- While most states and lo- been shown to reduce the greatly improved the pub-
matic reduction in cases, cent weeks, after a winter calities moved to relax their risk of hospitalization from lic health system's capacity
along with readily available spike from the highly trans- mask requirements even COVID-19 by 90%. By the to identify and track any
vaccines and the likelihood missible omicron variant. before the CDC change, end of the month, the ad- potential new variants, with
of new tests and therapeu- Deaths, though, which lag many have kept mandates ministration says, 1 million new investments in surveil-
tics soon becoming more cases by weeks, are still el- in place for schools, and pills will be available, with lance testing and genomic
accessible. evated, with an average the federal government double that ready for use in sequencing. Zients said the
"This plan lays out the road- of nearly 1,700 people dy- continues to require face April. A White House official administration believes that
map to help us fight CO- ing in the U.S. each day. Of- masks on public transpor- said the "test-to-treat" plan if needed, it can authorize,
VID-19 in the future as we ficials emphasize that most tation, including airplanes. would initially roll out in hun- produce and deliver new
move America from crisis instances of serious illnesses The federal mandate is to dreds of pharmacies across vaccines and treatments
to a time when COVID-19 and death in the U.S. oc- expire on March 18, and the country, including CVS, "in just 100 days rather than
does not disrupt our daily cur among those who are health officials did not pro- Walgreens, and Kroger lo- in many months or years."
lives and is something we unvaccinated or who have vide any indication wheth- cations, and would soon Biden, in his remarks Tues-
prevent, protect against, not received a booster er it would be extended. expand beyond that. Those day night, said that in addi-
and treat," the White House dose of vaccine. Meanwhile, businesses who test positive at the sites tion to starting the new an-
said. "We are not going to The White House's strategy across the country are would be able to obtain tiviral initiative, his adminis-
just 'live with COVID.' Be- comes days after the CDC struggling to navigate em- the antiviral pills for quick tration would allow people
cause of our work, we are loosened its guidance for ployees' lingering concerns use, dramatically reducing in the U.S. to order another
no longer going to let COV- when face masks should about COVID-19 and de- the risk of bad outcomes. round of free tests from
One possible problem: the government. He said
LIKE US ON The test-to-treat plan drew that starting next week,
early concern from some the administration would
pharmacists. Anne Burns, make available four more
a vice president with the free tests to U.S. house-
American Pharmacists As- holds through COVIDTests.
sociation, said pharmacies gov, which has sent more
across the country have than 270 million to nearly 70
Facebook.com/arubatoday/ struggled with staffing is- million households since it
sues in recent months. Phar-
launched in mid-January.q