there s plenty offing. reporter: but covid is surging and the testing supply hasn t kept up. we need to flood the system with tests and have tests available for anyone who wants them. reporter: senior administration officials tell cnn that president biden is set to announce new testing measures today. they will purchase half a billion at-home rapid tests to be delivered to americans for free starting in serbia and they will set up more federal testing sites including one in new york city that will open before christmas. this far into the pandemic the u.s. is, you know, loyalty years behind our are peer nation in terms of making the tests really available. reporter: last week the cdc director dr. walensky suggested that increased testing will help keep schools open. these studies demonstrate that testing works to keep unvaccinated children in schools
appointments are tough to get, and over the counter rapid tests are selling out online and at pharmacies. dr. brooke watts works with metro health in ohio. there isn t a rapid test to be found and the pcr tests that are offered at testing sites, the wait period is approximately seven days. reporter: dr. michael mina has been sounding the alarm on testing trouble since early in the pandemic gli. i think our testing failure is the greatest failure of this pandemic. reporter: in recent months, the biden administration has pledged to spend close to $3 billion to ramp up testing. they also used the defense production act several times to make millions more tests available. last week, the white house coronavirus response coordinator said they had enough supply. there is plenty of free testing across the country. reporter: days later, covid is surging and the testing supply hasn t kept up. we really need to flood the system with testing. we need to have tests available for anyon