Covid-19 tests should be coming to your home ... maybe, we think

The White House and the Postal Service could deliver at-home Covid-19 tests this month; Kazakhstan's president tells security forces to shoot protesters without warning. 

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Biden, USPS could be close to a deal on delivering Covid tests to homes

Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

• The White House and the US Postal Service are in talks to begin shipping coronavirus testing kits to American households starting in mid-January, with a formal announcement of the deal coming as soon as next week. The Biden administration will send out 500 million free testing kits as the omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country. [Marketwatch / Mike Murphy]
• The plan to distribute tests was first announced December 21, after the new variant had already traveled to the US and at-home testing supplies disappeared from store shelves. The White House will reportedly set up a website allowing people to request kits, and the administration has secured at least one contract for the manufacture and delivery of the tests. [Washington Post / Jacob Bogage and Dan Diamond]
• Testing demand far surpasses supply, and manufacturers like Abbott Laboratories, which makes the popular BinaxNOW kit, are struggling to keep up. Additionally, the government’s agreement with retailers to keep test kit prices down expired last month, creating even more accessibility challenges. [WSJ / Sharon Terlep]
• On December 6, White House press secretary Jen Psaki mocked the idea when NPR reporter Mara Liasson asked about the difficulty of finding rapid tests in the US at a press briefing. Psaki asked Liasson, “Should we just send one to every American?” [The Intercept / Robert Mackey]
• Biden defended his handling of the omicron outbreak last month, saying no one could have predicted the rapid spread of the new variant. However, he did admit that he wished he had thought about ordering the half-billion tests “two months ago.” [ABC / Ben Gittleson]

Shoot-to-kill orders in Kazakhstan

• Kazakhstan’s President  Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has told police and military personnel that they can shoot “terrorists” without warning, a terrifying new turn in his attempt to tamp down the unrest that has gripped the Central Asian nation over the past several days. Although Tokayev said his government had mostly regained control, he vowed to continue to use force “until the full liquidation of the militants” is achieved. [WSJ / James Marson and Thomas Grove]
• In a televised speech, Tokayev dismissed calls for negotiations with the protesters as “stupid,” claiming they are “armed and trained bandits and terrorists, both local and foreign,” and promising to destroy the protesters “in the near future.” Contradicting the president’s assertions, thousands of protesters gathered peacefully Friday in Zhanaozen to issue demands for government reform. [Washington Post / Mary Ilyushina and Amy Cheng]
• On Thursday, Tokayev called in forces from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, made up of six former Soviet republics, for their support in quelling the protests. It’s the first time the group, which is a Russian parallel to NATO, has activated its peacekeeping forces in its 30-year existence. [Foreign Policy / Eugene Chausovsky]
• Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry reported on Friday that 26 protesters had so far been killed, 26 wounded, and 3,800 detained, although those numbers couldn’t be verified by outside sources. European leaders have expressed great concern over the escalation in Tokayev’s use of force and harsh rhetoric; however, the Chinese government offered promises of support on Friday. [AP / Dasha Litvinova]

The three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020 have been sentenced to life in prison. [NPR / Bill Chappell and Joe Hernandez]

• Cyber Ninjas, the company that conducted a review of Maricopa County, Arizona’s 2020 election results, will have to pay the Arizona Republic $50,000 per day till it hands over records of the review requested by the newspaper. [Washington Post / John Wagner]
• Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor, has died at the age of 94. [NYT / William Grimes]
• Scientists explore Antarctica’s Thwaites glacier — also known as the “doomsday glacier” because oceans could rise more than two feet when it melts — for clues about when and how quickly Antarctic ice will melt due to climate change. [AP / Seth Borenstein]

What's a five-letter word for dorks like Steve Urkel and Dwight Schrute?

Solve today's new Vox crossword puzzle, and stay tuned for more puzzles coming out Monday through Saturday.

"They were fully committed to their crimes. Let them be fully committed for their consequences."

[Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, on the fate of her son’s killers. All three were sentenced to life in prison on Friday.]

Jamie Raskin lost his son. He didn’t want to lose American democracy too. [Spotify]

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