Biden admin preps for next pandemic as Delta variant surges

With newer variants like Delta circulating, the administration must ensure that existing tests are capable of detecting emerging strains. | Bruce Bennett/Getty Images — one in which new infections have dropped to the lowest level since the spring of 2020, but the highly contagious Delta variant is driving fresh outbreaks.

The government is working with the diagnostics industry to ensure the gains in domestic manufacturing are not lost over time. But it is not yet out of the danger zone with Covid-19. With public health experts warning that Delta could drive up cases in under-vaccinated areas, the Biden team is pushing ahead with plans to establish

Covid-19 testing numbers have fallen significantly since infections peaked in late January. But with less than 50 percent of the U.S. population fully vaccinated, and many states reporting vaccination rates in the 30s or 40s, the nation is vulnerable to highly contagious variants like Delta. The demand for Covid-19 testing ballooned early in the pandemic and did not let up for more than a year, driving unprecedented cooperation between federal health agencies and the testing industry. Other recent disease outbreaks or threats, such as those involving the Zika and Ebola viruses, petered out without a need for large-scale testing.

Michael Iademarco, who led HHS’ Covid-19 testing and diagnostic working group for the past seven months, is returning “This is a sign of how seriously we take testing issues now and also to be thinking about the future and building the infrastructure we need for testing to prepare for the next pandemic,” the HHS official said. “Fortunately, right now, it looks like our vaccine is very effective against variants, but we don't know what will happen in the future. So we are going to need a very robust testing strategy and execution of that strategy through the end of this pandemic.

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