way of saying how do we get case reports from the ground to some central location so that we can tell you what s going on, that s like trying to build a sky scraper. you can t do that overnight. we will build this and it s critical it gets done as soon as possible but it won t be overnight. martha: yeah. i think a lot of people are frustrated by that. sounds like you are, too. it cost $15 to do operation warp speed. we have four times that in the hopper in terms of money spent by these health agencies, dr. osterholm, thank you for being here. good to see you. thank you. martha: the white house saying moments ago that they have finalized a contract with a test manufacturer as part of a promise to deliver a half billion tests to americans that want them. more contracts are needed.
kids rely on in-person learning because that s where they get their meals, that s where they are safest and it allows their parents, some of them who are single parents, to be able to go to work and support their households. but we will continue to see this back and forth between parents, teachers and school districts and governments throughout the next couple of weeks as they decide how to best go back to in-person learning, if they can do it safely. fred? operative word, safely. nadia romero, thank you so much. all right. there s also a massive push under way to ramp up testing as states deal with this surge. on friday the white house signed its first contract with the test manufacturer, it s part of a plan to distribute half a billion free rapid tests. cnn s arlette saenz is at the white house for us. arlette, what details do we have on this plan? reporter: fred, the biden administration is taking the first steps to make good on that promise to distribute half a billion tests
the general manager of health testing in florida. yesterday we hit a record here with over 66,000 tests just here in miami-dade county alone. reporter: the biden administration under fire for not being prepared on testing, promising free at home kits to all americans starting at the beginning of january, but now saying they won t sign a contract with the test manufacturer until late next week meanwhile, the cdc says fewer hospitalizations suggest omicron is presenting as a milder disease than previous variants but the sheer scale of infection, forcing 48 states to call upon the national guard, including wisconsin and georgia. watching those boots on the ground roll in. we are going to see the number of cases in this country rise so dramatically, we will have a hard time keeping every day life operating. and sam joins us now. sam, we re also learning more tonight about the fda s next steps on boosters for children ages 12 to 15. reporter: yeah, peter. that s right a person wit