six months ago, two months ago, a month ago. >> reporter: but many public health experts have been sounding the alarm for months. >> everybody saw it coming. we knew we needed more tests. i think the administration dropped the ball on this. >> we're still way behind on testing. >> frankly, a big problem is right from the start we didn't have a strategic plan about how testing was going to fit in with our response. >> reporter: and in october, anticipating a winter surge, a group of experts, including dr. michael minna, made an urgent plea to white house officials. >> tried everything i could to advise our government on the need for these tools. >> reporter: in a presentation obtained by cnn, the experts predicted the u.s. could need about 732 million rapid at-home tests per month by march 2022. even after factoring in expected production increases, the experts warned the u.s. would fall short by about a quarter of a billion tests. white house officials say they didn't disagree with the goals but by october, it was mission