COVID-19 testing wasn't where it needed to be. Then Omicron hit.
CBSN
The U.S. was already struggling in recent months with limited supplies of rapid, at-home tests and long turnaround times for lab-based tests when the number of COVID-19 infections remained either relatively flat or was only slowly inching upward.
Now, manufacturers of over-the-counter test kits and labs that process more sensitive polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests, cannot keep pace with demand, as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads rapidly, winter weather strikes and families prepare to gather for the holiday season. These days, long lines of pedestrians queued up along sidewalks or motorists sitting bumper to bumper in parking lots for hours mean one thing: They are waiting for COVID-19 tests.
The Biden Administration acknowledged earlier this year it needed to ramp up the nation's testing efforts, and pledged to make tests cheaper and more widely available by investing $1 billion to expand the supply of at-home COVID-19 tests. But there still are not enough tests to go around as of mid-December. Just ask anyone who has tried to get their hands on an Abbot Labs or Quidel test kit — two popular varieties — in recent days and has struck out at multiple major pharmacies across New York City's five boroughs and beyond.
After four days of voting, with more than 400 million people eligible across 27 countries, European voters have pulled the bloc's 720-seat parliament farther to the right than it has ever been. The European Parliament, for the next five years, will now have a record number of far-right legislators. Far-right parties made gains in Europe's top three economies — Germany, France and Italy — with gains by politicians who campaigned against immigration, against support for Ukraine and against climate policy.
Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference is typically a springboard for the company to announce new tech features for its software programs, and not as flashy as its yearly September event to trumpet its latest iPhone rollout. But this year, the WWDC could be a make-or-break moment for the tech giant.