While the Biden Administration is moving to scale up testing for COVID-19, experts tell NPR that even more testing than what is being sought is needed.
It notes that the White House is seeking more funding for COVID-19 testing as part of a relief package currently being negotiated in Congress and recently reached a $231 million deal with Ellume that includes purchasing 8.5 million of its rapid, at-home, over-the-counter SARS-CoV-2 test. The Biden Administration further plans to invest in additional companies with the goal of having 61 million additional tests by the summer, NPR adds.
But Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Michael Mina tells it that that still isn't enough testing and argues that additional, and simpler tests, are needed.
"Testing is actually more important now than it was eight months ago because of the high contagiousness rate of these new variants," Mara Aspinall from Arizona State University adds at NPR. "It is critical to stop these new strains right in their tracks. And the only way to do that is to test."