Free rapid tests may not arrive in time to significantly blunt East Coast omicron surge

First there was bootleg hand sanitizer, counterfeit KN95 masks and vaccine cards. Now, nearly two years into the pandemic, the scam variant of concern involves testing.

Attorneys general in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Oregon have issued consumer alert warnings in recent days about questionable covid tests and pop-up sites. Complaints include markups on at-home test kits and sites in New York that wrongfully billed patients for tests that are free; fake at-home tests being sold in Michigan and testing centers in Illinois that return dubious results — or none at all.

The surging demand for tests recalls the shortages seen in the summer of 2020 and are a stark reminder that the the United States continues to struggle with its covid testing strategy. Even before the omicron variant surfaced, tests were in high demand as students returned to classrooms, workers to offices and many to leisure activities like concerts and cruises requiring proof of a negative test.

For the first time, the United States has surpassed the weekly average of 800,000 coronavirus cases a day in an explosive growth of infections fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant — bleak news especially as hospitalizations and deaths also have climbed to new recent records.

On Friday, the country’s toll reached 1,819 daily deaths averaged over the past seven days, the highest since early October, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. Meanwhile, eight states and Puerto Rico set new records for confirmed and suspected covid-19 hospitalizations: Delaware, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington.

Weeks after omicron gained a foothold in the United States, leading to infections exploding through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The latest hot spots are turning up in the West and Midwest, with California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Arizona experiencing the highest rate of increase of average new cases per capita.

Still, experts are hopeful the nation will soon experience a rapid decline in cases following the peak this month, mirroring omicron variant surges in South Africa and Britain.

Two of the largest retail pharmacies in the United States are temporarily closing some of their locations over the weekend as a wave of coronavirus infections has strained the already stretched workforce.

CVS and Walgreens, two drugstore chains with thousands of locations across the country, are scrambling to make up for the staffing shortages, which come as the retail pharmacies have handled an “unprecedented” demand for at-home coronavirus tests and led vaccination efforts.

Walgreens said in a statement that “the vast majority” of its stores will remain open. However, the ongoing labor shortage combined with the surge of cases has led to “isolated instances” when stores have had to adjust operating hours or temporarily close.

“This latest COVID-19 surge is placing a significant strain on several industries in the short-term and driving demand for services and products unlike anything seen before,” the statement said.

Most CVS stores will operate during their normal weekend hours, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis wrote in an email. However, “a tiny fraction of stores” will temporarily close “one or both days of the weekend to help address acute staffing issues amidst both the omicron surge and the workforce shortage affecting nearly every industry and company," he added.

Google will temporarily require all workers who come into its offices to present a negative coronavirus test, even if they’re vaccinated. The move comes as the omicron variant spreads throughout the United States, leading to record case numbers.

“We hope that this is something you are already doing, but during this period of heightened risk we are making it a matter of policy to get a weekly molecular test if you are coming into the office,” Google Chief Health Officer Karen DeSalvo said in a Thursday email to employees that was obtained by The Washington Post. A Google spokesperson confirmed the policy change.

Google provides free at-home tests to its employees and contractors, even those who do not go into the office. Providing tests directly to employees helps lower demand on public testing sites and for tests sold in pharmacies, DeSalvo said in the email.

The company, which plans to require employees to work in an office at least part of the week when it is safe to do so, has said all its employees must eventually be vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided its most explicit guidance to date Friday on the superior protection offered by N95 masks compared to cloth coverings and other masks.

But the agency stopped short of recommending that people opt for N95 masks in updating its mask guidance. Officials have always maintained that the best mask is the one that fits well and is worn consistently.

But the latest CDC information ranks the different levels of protection afforded by different masks and how they should be used. “Loosely woven cloth coverings” offer the least protection, the updated guidance says. Well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95 masks offer more protection. And well-fitting respirators, including N95 masks, which are approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, “offer the highest level of protection.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he regrets not speaking “louder” against the Trump administration’s calls for lockdowns at the beginning of the pandemic.

Speaking to the conservative podcast “Ruthless,” DeSantis said that in the earlier days of the pandemic he never thought the virus would lead to lockdowns in the country.

“I didn’t think that was on the radar,” DeSantis said. “I was dealing with, I had Pence and the CDC director down at Port Everglades talking about cruise ships the second week of March [2020]. No one was talking about shutting down the country. And I think, knowing now what I know … if that was a threat earlier, I would have been much louder about [it].”

The Florida governor has been a critic of anti-coronavirus measures and has refused to reveal whether he received a coronavirus vaccine booster. Earlier this week, former president Donald Trump called out politicians who are keeping their booster vaccine status a secret during an interview with the conservative One America News. Trump, who has been vocal about having received a booster, didn’t mention DeSantis by name but said politicians keeping mum on their booster status are “gutless.”

“They had the vaccine, and they’re answering like — in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless,” Trump said. “You gotta say it, whether you had it or not, say it.”

In mid-March of 2020, Florida was seeing an average of 20 cases a day and averaging one death a day. By the beginning of April 2020, those numbers had jumped to over 1,000 new cases a day and more than 20 daily covid-19 deaths. As of Friday, the state has reported 63,084 total coronavirus deaths, the third-highest in the country.

Four inmates at a northwest Arkansas jail sued the facility and its doctor Thursday, alleging that they were unknowingly prescribed ivermectin to treat covid-19. Health officials have warned that the anti-parasitic drug should not be used to treat infections with the coronavirus.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the detainees against the Washington County jail, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder and physician Robert Karas.

The inmates said they were never told ivermectin was among the medications they had been given. They said they were given the drug in August after testing positive, according to the lawsuit.

The anti-parasitic drug has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use by people and animals for some worms, head lice and skin conditions but not for treating covid-19. Side effects for the drug include skin rash, nausea and vomiting. According to the lawsuit, the four inmates suffered vision issues, diarrhea and stomach cramps.

Karas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has previously said no inmates were forced to take the drug. Karas has said he began giving ivermectin at the jail in November 2020. In a September letter sent by his attorney, Karas told a Medical Board investigator that 254 inmates at the jail had been treated with ivermectin.

The state Medical Board has been investigating complaints against Karas over the jail’s use of ivermectin, and is expected to discuss the investigation at its February meeting.

Despite warnings from professional bodies including American Medical Association, the American Pharmacists Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the drug has been touted by Republican lawmakers in Arkansas and other states as a potential treatment for covid-19.

The federal website where Americans can order free coronavirus rapid tests will be launched Wednesday and allow each household to order up to four tests, senior administration officials said Friday.

The website, called covidtest.gov, will require that users provide their names and addresses to receive the tests. The government purchased 500 million rapid tests that will be available to every household, and will limit to four the number of tests sent to each address, the senior officials said during a briefing with reporters.

The officials said the tests would be shipped within 7 to 12 days after being ordered, a timeline that experts say means the tests probably will become available too late to significantly blunt the impact of the current omicron surge along the Eastern Seaboard, where the outbreak may be beginning to slow. But the tests could make a difference to the parts of the country that have yet to face the worst of the surge.

President Biden announced Thursday that the government would purchase an additional 500 million tests to help prepare for future surges, meaning the government will eventually make 1 billion free tests available. The senior officials said the White House has worked closely with the U.S. Postal Service to help set up the website and ensure that the tests can be distributed.