COVID-19 cases in the United States today topped 67 million. According to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, there have been 67,581,992 cases resulting in 853,951 deaths representing a mortality rate of 1.3% with more than 150,000 hospitalized.
One bit of good news. The federal government launched a website a day ahead of schedule enabling Americans to order free rapid COVID tests to be sent to our home addresses. USPS has indicated the tests could take 7-12 days to deliver. By that time, the number of COVID cases will likely have topped 75 million.
Honestly, these tests would have come in handy months ago when Delta was spreading through the country never mind Omicron. Then again if not for a flippant remark by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki this might not have come to pass at all. Last month, NPR White House correspondent Mara Liasson asked Psaki if rapid COVID tests could be made widely available to which Psaki sarcastically remarked, "Should we just send one to every American?" Psaki evidently gave Liasson the Emerald Robinson treatment. But Liasson is no Emerald Robinson.
It was not Psaki's finest hour. But launching the website a day early could prove a form of recompense. If the tests are sent in a timely manner and prove to be convenient and reliable then her gaffe could be forgiven and forgotten. Then again it feels like they are using teacups to clean up a storm.
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