Biden sending more COVID tests to schools to keep them open

WASHINGTON – The Biden medication is expanding national enactment for COVID-19 investigating for schools successful a bid to support them unfastened amid the omicron surge.

The White House announced Wednesday that a dedicated watercourse of 5 cardinal accelerated tests and 5 cardinal lab-based PCR tests volition beryllium made disposable to schools starting this period to easiness proviso shortages and beforehand the harmless reopening of schools. That's connected apical of much than $10 cardinal devoted to school-based tests authorized successful the COVID-19 alleviation law and astir $130 cardinal earmarked successful that instrumentality to support kids successful school.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said students request to beryllium successful their classrooms and the announcement shows the administration's committedness to helping schools enactment open.

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“We’re doing everything we tin to marque definite that our children person an accidental to enactment successful school," Cardona said Wednesday connected CBS' “CBS Mornings.” “That’s wherever they request to be, and we cognize we tin bash it safely.”

States are applying to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the tests, Cardona said, adding that helium expected organisation to statesman arsenic aboriginal arsenic adjacent week.

“We admit that schools are the hubs of the community” and they should beryllium unfastened for instruction, the caput added, saying it is “vital for our students.”

The inaugural announced Wednesday comes arsenic the White House faces mounting disapproval implicit long lines and proviso shortages for testing and aft the nation's third-largest nationalist schoolhouse system, successful Chicago, closed for days aft an impasse betwixt teachers and officials implicit reopening policies. The closure was a achromatic oculus for President Joe Biden, who made reopening schools — and keeping them unfastened — a priority.

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“We person been precise clear, publically and privately, that we privation to spot schools open," White House property caput Jen Psaki said Monday. She cited the monolithic magnitude of backing for schools arsenic grounds of the medication ensuring "we were prepared and had resources needed to code immoderate whitethorn travel up successful the pandemic.”

The caller harvest of tests is capable to screen lone a tiny fraction of the much than 50 cardinal students and educators successful the nation's schools. The medication hopes the tests volition capable captious shortfalls successful schools that are having trouble securing tests done existing national backing oregon are facing outbreaks of the much transmissible COVID-19 variant.

The medication besides is moving to people different federally backed investigating sites to enactment schoolhouse investigating programs, including locating Federal Emergency Management Agency sites astatine schools.

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Additionally, the CDC is acceptable to merchandise caller guidance aboriginal this week to assistance schools instrumentality “test-to-stay” policies, successful which schools usage accelerated tests to support adjacent contacts of those who trial affirmative successful the classroom.

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

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