The White House’s new coronavirus response strategy—announced the day after President Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address—aims to seek a return to normalcy in the U.S., but will require funding from Congress.
The strategy comes on the heels of the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night and as U.S. new cases decline, though deaths remain high. Mr. Biden used the speech to spotlight a key component: a new a “test to treat” initiative that he said would enable Americans to get tested at a pharmacy and, if they are positive, “receive antiviral pills on the spot at no cost.”
Many of the other initiatives — including the plan to quickly develop vaccines, which was announced in November — are not new. But taken together, they amount to a blueprint for the next phase of the response, though the White House insists the fight against Covid is far from over.
“Make no mistake, President Biden will not accept just ‘living with Covid’ any more than we accept ‘living with’ cancer, Alzheimer’s, or AIDS,” the plan declares.
Read the full story at the New York Times.
