White House Launches FEMA-Run Federal COVID-19 Prevention Sites
The Biden Administration has directed federal agencies to allocate resources to strained hospitals and to improve COVID-19 prevention coupled with a surge in federal personnel.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) model indicates that 73 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. between December 12 and 18 were due to the omicron variant, underscoring the virus' contagious nature. Following the CDC’s warning, the administration will purchase 500 million COVID-19 testing kits and establish federal testing facilities throughout the nation. According to a White House fact sheet, New York City will host the first facility by Christmas with subsequent sites in affected communities.
The White House has tapped the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to manage temporary government-operated vaccination sites, with the first sites in Washington and New Mexico. FEMA will also activate the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) to provide direct assistance to facilities in need, including personal protective equipment and other supplies.
More than 400 federal medical personnel will offer aid in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Additionally, Biden has directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to deploy 1,000 service members over the next two months to "overburdened" hospitals. President Biden did not mention the deployment location or timing of these additional service members. However, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs John Kirby confirmed that DOD is collaborating on this matter with FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“We’ll work with FEMA, we’ll work with HHS, we’ll work with state and local authorities as appropriate to identify the right locations, the right hospitals that they need to go to,” Kirby stated.
In early December, the President announced a nine-part plan to combat a potential new wave of pandemics similar to the one the United States and other nations experienced last winter. In response to the Delta variant surge, the federal government has deployed 2,000 federal personnel through the COVID-19 Response Teams launched this past summer.