As part of the Biden Administration's new stepped up plan to fight the coronavirus this winter, the White House is preparing to distribute half a billion at-home COVID tests for free.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday is expected to announce the free tests as one of the new actions the government is taking to protect Americans and help communities and hospitals battle the Omicron variant, which is rapidly sweeping across the country. The White House provided details of the measures ahead of Biden's speech.
The government plans to make the free tests available beginning in January. The tests will be distributed in the mail to anyone who requests one through a website.
The government is also setting up new federal testing sites around the country, helping states that need additional testing capacity. The first site will open in New York City this week.
Another new initiative involves preparing 1,000 military service members -- doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel -- to deploy to overburdened hospitals across the country in January and February. That's in addition to six emergency response teams -- with more than 100 clinical personnel and paramedics -- that are currently being deployed to six states: Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The President is also directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with every state and territory to assess hospital needs ahead of winter surges, and to start expanding hospital bed capacity now. FEMA is also ready to deploy hundreds of ambulances and emergency medical teams so that if one hospital fills up, they can transport patients to open beds in other facilities.
Biden will also announce additional steps to ensure people can get vaccinated and boosted, and get their kids vaccinated easily this winter.
Federal health officials have encouraged everyone who is eligible to consider getting a booster shot -- that's anyone age 16 or older who is fully vaccinated. Just over 61% of the population is considered fully vaccinated, and 29.8% of them have received a booster, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The president will also deliver a message to people who haven't received a COVID vaccine yet, according to Press Secretary Jen Psaki. She said Biden will issue "a stark warning of what the winter will look like for Americans that choose to remain unvaccinated."
The U.S. is currently averaging more than 132,000 COVID cases a day, according to latest data from the CDC. Officials are worried the number will continue spiking as more and more cases of the Omicron variant are confirmed.
The Omicron variant is now the dominant strain of coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for over 73% of recent cases, the CDC said Monday. That's a six-fold increase in Omicron infections compared to the week before.
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