COVID free test kits available; Fauci on omicron, endemic: Updates

Although a federal website offering free COVID-19 at-home testing kits doesn’t officially launch until Wednesday, covidtests.gov was operating at limited capacity Tuesday, allowing some people to order tests.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the site is in its beta phase to allow troubleshooting.

“We can’t guarantee there won’t be a bug or two,” Psaki said, “but the best tech teams across the administration and the postal service are working hard to make this a success.”

Some users immediately identified at least one problem: Orders made by different people living in the same apartment building but in different units were rejected as duplicate, according to some tweets. Americans are supposed to be able to order up to four kits per address. Once ordered, tests are to be mailed within 7-12 days.

The website is expected to officially launch mid-morning Wednesday.

The Biden administration is buying 1 billion tests to distribute through the website and a phone line. Some tests are being reserved to prioritize households in the hardest-hit and highest-risk communities.

The White House is ramping up efforts to make testing more accessible and affordable after facing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over a lack of tests amid surging coronavirus rates.

— Maureen Groppe

Also in the news:

►New York is the third state to report more COVID-19 cases already in 2022 than in all of 2020, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. Hawaii and Vermont have also surpassed their 2020 counts.

►Tickets to the upcoming Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing won’t be sold because of the “current grave and complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said officials in China, where the discovery of the first omicron variant infection Saturday has led to increased efforts to prevent the virus from spreading.

►Authorities in Hong Kong plan to kill some 2,000 small animals after several tested positive for the coronavirus at a pet store where an employee also tested positive. Hong Kong will also stop the sale of hamsters and the import of small mammals.

►Canada approved use of the antiviral pill Paxlovid, created by Pfizer, to treat people with COVID-19. The U.S. approved its use in December.

►Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, both subsidiaries of Royal Caribbean Group, have canceled cruises as COVID-19 continues to spread.

Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 66 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 851,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 330 million cases and over 5.5 million deaths. More than 208 million Americans – 62.9% – are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What we’re reading: Many parents are “just trying to stay afloat” as omicron is forcing day care centers to close in droves across the country. Read the full story.

Refresh this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY’s free Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group. Or check out our resource guide to the coronavirus pandemic here.

‘Open question’ whether omicron is final wave, Fauci says

It’s too soon to know whether the omicron variant will be the final phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday.

“It is an open question as to whether or not omicron is going to be the live virus vaccination that everyone is hoping for,” Fauci said, putting air quotes around the phrase “live virus vaccination.”

There are two ways for a pandemic to end: the infectious disease is eliminated, like measles, or it becomes endemic, which means it still exists without major disruption to society, much like the flu.

“If you look at the history of infectious diseases, we’d only eradicated one infectious disease in man and that’s smallpox,” Fauci said at the World Economic Forum. “That’s not going to happen with this virus.”

That means COVID-19 must evolve into a less dangerous disease for the pandemic to officially end. Although the highly contagious omicron variant is spreading quickly — infecting about 782,000 Americans per day, according to the CDC — some point to its low mortality rate as a sign that the virus may be becoming less severe.

It’s possible that omicron could signal that the pandemic is ending, “but that would only be the case if we don’t get another variant that eludes the immune response,” Fauci said.

NYC schools ‘exploring’ remote learning option

New York City’s public schools are “exploring” a remote learning option amid the omicron surge as roughly a quarter of students in the district weren’t in school last Friday, Chancellor David C. Banks said at a news conference Tuesday.

Local news outlets Gothamist and CBS New York reported the city had changed its attendance policy to allow more students to learn remotely during the surge. Banks said no change in remote learning policy was set to be announced, but said the city’s schools were providing an “on ramp” to the classroom by allowing more students to be marked as present while receiving instruction online.

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COVID free test kits available; Fauci on omicron, endemic: Updates

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