The Biden administration is doubling down on efforts to expand the supply and accessibility of COVID-19 testing as it faces growing criticism over long queues and supply shortages across the country and when testing will be done amid a surge in omicron confusion.

The White House announced Wednesday that 5 million rapid tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests will be made available to schools starting this month to ease supply shortages and facilitate the safe reopening of schools.

It said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, will join the COVID-19 team to oversee the push to ramp up testing. Just a few days ago, private insurers would be required to reimburse Americans for testing and launched a new federal website for Americans to order free tests and have them shipped to their door.

Still, the push to test supplies may be too late for many Americans trying to safely deal with the omicron-fueled surge in cases that is already showing signs of peaking.

Dr. Rochelle Valensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provided guidance Wednesday on when Americans should use the tests — which are in short supply as Americans travel and visit family during the busy holiday season.

“Americans should get tested when they develop symptoms that may suggest COVID-19,” she said, including fever, cough, sore throat, respiratory symptoms and muscle aches. She also said they should be tested after known exposure to the virus, usually five days after exposure, or sooner as part of on-campus testing protocols in schools and workplaces.

“Certainly, if you’re going to have a party with your family, if you’re going to a party with people who are immunocompromised or elderly, or you have people who may be unvaccinated or poorly protected by the vaccine, this may be an opportunity that you want to test,” she added. Say.

The school testing plan announced Wednesday comes days after Chicago’s third-largest public school system in the nation was shut down after a standoff between teachers and officials over reopening policies. The shutdown is a dark eye to President Joe Biden, who has made reopening schools and keeping them open a priority.

Education Minister Miguel Cardona said students needed to stay in classrooms, and the announcement showed the government’s commitment to helping schools stay open.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure our kids have the opportunity to stay in school,” Cardona said Wednesday on “CBS Morning.” “That’s where they need to be, and we know we can do it safely.”

States are in the process of applying to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for tests, Cardona said, adding that he expects distribution to begin as early as next week.

“We recognise that schools are the heart of the community” and they should be open to teaching, the secretary added, saying it was “critical for our students”.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday: “We’ve been very clear, both publicly and privately, that we want to see schools open.” She cited the large amount of funding for schools as a way for the administration to ensure “we are prepared and done ready” evidence. The resources you need to address any issues that may arise during a pandemic. “

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The new batch of tests will cover only a fraction of the more than 50 million students and educators in schools nationwide, but has invested more than $10 billion in school-based testing mandated by the COVID-19 Relief Act and earmarked about $130 billion in the law Dollars are used to send children to school.

The administration hopes the tests will fill critical shortages for schools that struggle to secure testing with existing federal funding or face outbreaks of more transmissible variants of COVID-19.

The administration is also working to target other federally-backed testing sites in support of the school testing program, including the establishment of FEMA sites in schools.

In addition, the CDC will release new guidance later this week to help schools implement a “stay-on-test” policy, in which schools use rapid tests to stay in close contact with those who test positive in the classroom.