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Genome sequencing is our best tool to detect the next #COVID19 variant that is bound to occur, but the U.S. lags far behind other countries in our use. Today, I introduced legislation w/

@SenatorBaldwin

@RepScottPeters

to quickly ramp up our efforts.

washingtonpost.com

Why America is ‘flying blind’ to the coronavirus mutations racing across the globe

America currently has so little of the genetic sequencing needed to detect mutated versions of coronavirus - like those first discovered in Britain and South Africa - that such variants are likely...

9:58 PM · Feb 4, 2021

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The Biden Admin is investing $200 million to identity and mitigate new COVID variants. This is welcome news, but more resources are needed. My legislation, the Tracking COVID Variants Act, would dramatically scale up our efforts to detect new variants.

politico.com

Biden admin will spend $1.6B to expand Covid-19 testing and sequencing

Health officials told reporters that $650 million will be used to increase access to testing in non-medical settings, such as K-8 schools.

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and

We're building the plane as we fly...✈️

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and

I congratulate you on this. Why we are so late to this sequencing? What other lessons we should be learning from Ebola initiative? Is it because we are not dialed in with the rest of the scientific world community that we are missing the benefits of diverse thinking?

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