Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Police, Local Governments Step In As Testing Sites Careen Out Of Control
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Police Will Provide Security At City COVID Testing Sites
Milwaukee police will provide security at COVID-19 testing locations run by the city after multiple incidents of line-cutting and altercations. Demand for testing has ramped up since the rise of the Omicron variant and the arrival of the holiday season, with almost 16,000 tests performed at three city-run testing locations since Dec. 20. Lines have been intimidatingly long, creating stress, heightened emotions and multiple incidents involving people waiting in line and COVID-19 testing staff, according to the Milwaukee Health Department. In response, it will increase security and have Milwaukee police present at testing facilities to assist with lines and safety. (Hughes, 1/4)
WJCT News: Jacksonville COVID Testing Site Pulls Back As Panic Over Testing Grows
Jacksonville’s only city-funded, drive-thru COVID testing site is limiting its capacity to 150 rapid tests a day —administered on a first-come, first-served basis. The operators of the Neptune Beach site, Telescope Health, announced the new limit on social media Monday, after it had to temporarily shut down last week because of traffic issues near the former Kmart on Atlantic Boulevard. The situation reflects the crush of demand for COVID testing as the omicron variant pushes caseloads to record highs day after day. (Heddles, 1/4)
NBC News: Indiana Limits Eligibility For Rapid Antigen Covid-19 Tests Because Of Shortage
As the availability of Covid-19 tests dwindles nationwide, Indiana said it will restrict rapid antigen tests to young people and at-risk individuals. The state Public Health Department released guidelines Tuesday that limit rapid antigen testing “to individuals aged 18 and younger and symptomatic individuals aged 50 and older” because of the national shortage. (Ali, 1/4)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis-Area Officials Warn Of Scams, ‘Illegitimate Operations’ As COVID Test Sites Pack
Area officials and residents on Tuesday reported concerns that unauthorized or even fraudulent COVID-19 testing sites were operating in the region, as demand for tests continued to soar. The sites in doubt ranged from south St. Louis to Belleville. Authorities and residents said the operators collected personal patient information but sometimes didn’t provide test results and other times operated at sites without permission. In one case, police shut down an operator that was asking residents for Social Security and passport numbers. (Merrilees, 1/4)
Houston Chronicle: FEMA Will Open Six New COVID Testing Sites In Texas As State Awaits Antibody Treatments
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will open six new COVID-19 testing sites across Texas, after state officials last week asked the federal government to help manage the state’s rising caseloads. The six sites, approved Monday, will be located in Bexar, Cameron, Dallas, Harris, Hidalgo and Tarrant counties. State officials said they expect the centers to open sometime next week, and a FEMA spokesperson said the department is “working with our federal partners to quickly source the request.” The exact locations of the testing sites have not yet been determined. (Harris, 1/4)
When will free tests from the federal government arrive? —
Axios: White House To Start Delivering At-Home COVID Tests "Later This Month"
The Biden administration is finalizing contracts to mail millions of at-home COVID-19 rapid tests "later this month," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. President Biden began ramping up testing efforts after receiving widespread criticism for not making at-home tests widely available ahead of the emergence of the Omicron variant, which has driven up infections across the U.S. (Reyes, 1/5)
Modern Healthcare: GOP Senators Press HHS On COVID-19 Testing
Two senior Republican senators are pressing President Joe Biden's administration on the availability of COVID-19 testing after Congress appropriated tens of billions of dollars to improve access. In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Monday, Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) ask how the department allocated $83 billion Congress authorized for pandemic response, following a holiday season when people scrambled for hard-to-find tests. Blunt is ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee with authority over HHS and Burr is ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (Hellmann, 1/4)
And more about covid tests —
Bloomberg: Walmart, Kroger Raise At-Home Covid Test Price as Deal With Biden Expires
Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. are boosting the price of a popular at-home Covid-19 test after a deal with the White House to sell the kits at cost expired. The price of BinaxNOW tests at Walmart is rising to $19.88 this week from $14, the company said in an email Tuesday. Kroger said it reinstated “retail pricing” after completing the three-month commitment to President Joe Biden’s administration. The grocer now lists a price of $23.99 on its website. Each pack includes two tests. Walmart said it retained the lower price during the holidays even after the expiration of the deal with the White House. That agreement also extended to Amazon.com Inc., which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. (Case, 1/4)
CBS News: Social Media Users Rack Up Views By Wasting COVID-19 Tests
Some Americans seem determined to throw cold water on the merits of COVID-19 testing — literally. In the latest sign of ongoing public resistance to what is by now conventional medical wisdom about how to detect the disease, social media users are deliberately misusing scarce at-home COVID-19 tests to produce false positive results by running the devices under tap water. (Cerullo, 1/4)
The Wall Street Journal: Find Covid-19 Home Tests Using Online Product Trackers
You don’t have to run all over town hunting for self-test kits. Just be ready to buy when the bot says they are in stock. During the holidays, getting a PlayStation 5 under the tree required patience, luck and an online bot-powered product tracker. Now, the same shopping tools can help people find at-home Covid-19 tests, which have grown scarce as the Omicron variant rages across the country. (Brown, 1/4)
In related news from Florida —
WUSF Public Media: DeSantis, Ladapo Introduce More Antibody Sites And A Shift To 'High-Value' Testing
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, Florida’s surgeon general on Monday indicated the state Department of Health would issue guidance to “unwind the testing psychology” of the federal government. Dr. Joseph Ladapo was joined at news conference by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced the state will open new monoclonal antibody sites in the Orlando area, Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. “And we have the ability to add five to 10 more sites as the demand may be," DeSantis said. "But that is all contingent on the federal government.” (Dailey, 1/4)
The Washington Post: Civil Rights Advocate Ben Frazier Is Detained After Trying To Attend A DeSantis News Conference In Jacksonville
The handcuffing of a Florida community activist who wanted to sit in on a news conference Tuesday with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) quickly overshadowed the governor’s daily message criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Footage of Ben Frazier being handcuffed in Jacksonville spread across the Internet, leading Democrats to criticize the governor for the community organizer’s detention. DeSantis’s news conferences, in which he often blames the Biden administration for holding up monoclonal antibody treatment doses, are usually tightly controlled. (Rozsa, 1/4)
