While we are pleased to see Omicron cases and hospitalizations going down, ASPR continues to develop, procure, and distribute the tools necessary to keep Americans safe in this pandemic. Yesterday we announced significant milestones in two of our major priorities: testing and high-quality masks.

In January the Biden Administration launched an initiative to deliver four free at-home COVID-19 tests to any American household that wanted them via COVIDTests.gov. Today, just over a month after ordering began, in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, we’ve shipped tests to 50 million American households – that’s 200 million tests in total. That means that 85% of the initial orders placed have now been shipped to American households with millions more going out every day.

As Omicron cases continue to decline, we anticipate demand for tests may taper off as well. That’s why we recently issued a formal Request for Information from the testing industry, aimed at sustaining and expanding domestic manufacturing and testing capacity for this coming year. We are taking steps now to sustain and expand the domestic testing capacity in this country, so we will be ready if we face a new variant or surge in the future.

Finally, last month the Administration announced a plan to make N95 masks available to Americans for free via ASPR’s Strategic National Stockpile. To date we’ve shipped more than 230 million N95 masks from the SNS to pharmacies and community health centers nationwide so that any American who wants one has access to a free high-quality mask.We’re also in the process of making high-quality masks available to children and we will have more to share on that in the coming weeks.

We’re making big strides in developing and distributing the tools we need to combat the pandemic and keep Americans safe. In ASPR, our job is to respond to the current phase of the pandemic, to prepare for the next phase, and to always remain vigilant.