President Biden promises home tests during remarks on rising COVID numbers

President Joe Biden said that 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests would be sent to Americans during a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, December 21, as the country battled a surge in Omicron variant cases.

In an address on Tuesday afternoon, Biden said his administration would distribute the tests using the United States Postal Service, free of charge, beginning in January 2022.

Biden’s plan also included deploying more vaccinators and the addition of federal medical personnel at medical facilities overwhelmed by COVID patients.

The president reiterated his call to get vaccinated.

“If you’re not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned … You’re at a high risk of getting sick,” Biden said. “Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.”