COVID In US: Biden Unveils New Strategy To Combat Omicron Variant

President Joe Biden is set to unveil his new plan to combat the Omicron variant as winter draws closer to prevent further outbreaks similar to the Delta variant.

One senior administration official says the U.S. is going to pull out “all the stops” to get Americans the “maximum protection” that they need as winter nears.

The plan will impose new travel requirements for all travelers regardless of vaccination status as they must present a negative COVID test 24 hours prior to their flight leaving. Biden has also imposed travel bans on eight African nations and will tighten the requirements on all other international travelers.

The new requirements will include mask mandates for air and rail travel until March 18.

On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged the need to protect people during cold and flu season.

"The fact is that people should wind up getting vaccinated and boosted if they’re eligible for a boost. I keep coming back to that because that’s really the solution to this problem," Fauci told reporters.

The new plan is set to include home testing reimbursement that will require private healthcare companies to reimburse people buying at-home testing kits and it will reduce costs for 150 million Americans. The administration plans to distribute an additional 25 million vaccine doses to poorer communities that are more vulnerable to the virus, as well as set up family vaccine clinics and distribute anti-viral pills.

The White House will encourage booster shots as 100 million people have yet to receive a third jab and only half of U.S seniors have gotten their third shot, according to NPR.

Booster shots have been available to seniors since September.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to release information on “test to stay” policies for children exposed to COVID-19 to stay in school as long as they consistently test negative for the virus.

According to the CDC, 68.7% of people have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 58.9% of people being fully vaccinated.