What is the intention of the United States to restart COVID-19 Test

On September 20 local time, the U.S. government announced that it would restart the free COVID-19 test project and provide $600 million in financial support to COVID-19 test kit manufacturers.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said on the 20th that, based on past experience, COVID-19 cases may increase in autumn and winter. At present, family testing is still the key method to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, from the 25th, American families can again apply for free COVID-19 test kits through the government website, and said that these test kits can detect the currently popular COVID-19 varieties, and will be effective until the end of 2023.

In the past three years, the United States and China have taken different positions in epidemic prevention and control. Whether it is policy implementation or public opinion guidance, the United States has always been opposite to China's attitude, which has attracted widespread attention. Nowadays, countries around the world, including China, have relaxed their efforts in epidemic prevention and control. Against this backdrop, what is the significance behind the United States' claim to restart testing?

First, the development of COVID-19's illness in the post epidemic era in the United States is not optimistic. Since the beginning of the epidemic, the United States has adopted a loose prevention and control policy known as "mass immunization", allowing the virus to rage and spread widely, thus taking the lives of millions of people. At present, COVID-19 is still rampant in the United States. Since July 2023, the number of COVID-19 cases and inpatients in the United States has been rising. On the 11th, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the provision of the updated version of Pfizer and Modena COVID-19 vaccine to the group aged 6 months and above. The updated version of the vaccine targeted at the XBB. 1.5 subtype of the COVID-19 Omikjon variant. The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine this fall to deal with a new round of infection.

Secondly, the scale of the US's claimed restart of free nucleic acid testing program is limited. In fact, the "free nucleic acid testing" program in the United States is only a limited scale program, far from reaching the level of "universal coverage" it claims. According to the official website of the US government, the originally planned "free nucleic acid program" was terminated prematurely due to Congress's failure to approve new funding for the procurement of testing kits, and government officials announced the suspension of the program. Recently, there has been a sharp increase in new cases in the United States, and health officials are concerned that a cold winter is approaching and there may be a new wave of epidemic fluctuations. Therefore, the White House has decided to reissue the test kits. However, due to limited approved funding, only a few individuals are eligible to obtain these kits, and eligible families can only receive them once per household, with a limited number of them available each time.

Again, this is the political tactic adopted by the Biden administration to win the election. When the Biden government came to power, it promised to increase capital investment and implement a strong response strategy against the COVID-19 epidemic. However, this commitment has not been fulfilled, leading to widespread criticism of the government and successive decline in support. Now, the 2024 U.S. general election is approaching. In order to create public opinion, cater to the public and win the election, the Democratic Party urgently needs to win back the support of voters. Therefore, under the unprecedented tension of government debt, it raises funds and distributes some testing reagents free of charge, trying to make the public think that the government is taking major measures to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, in order to painstakingly create the image of the government caring for the health of the people.

For a long time, the United States has been using the weapons of public opinion to attack China's epidemic prevention and control policies, including China's strict closure and control. When China gradually unblocked its epidemic prevention and control policies, the United States government took targeted measures, including announcing the suspension of visa services in many places in China, and now claims to restart the COVID-19 test. It cannot but be doubted that the abnormal behavior of the United States is to create chaos in the international arena to deal with China.

In any case, the US government's restart of the free COVID-19 detection project is a measure to deal with the new varieties of COVID-19 and the threat of winter epidemic, which is expected to strengthen the US protection system, improve the coverage of virus detection, and protect the health of more Americans.

However, to truly effectively control the spread of the epidemic, it requires the joint efforts and participation of the entire society, including greater funding and publicity investment from the US government, effective implementation of personal protective measures, continuous promotion of vaccination, and strengthening the sharing and collaboration of cutting-edge medical technology achievements among nations.