Below is a letter to President Biden requesting help in prioritizing testing availability for industries deemed part of the nation’s critical infrastructure with essential workers to prevent interruption to critical goods and services for American consumers. 

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President Joseph R. Biden

CC: Jeffrey Zients The White House Counselor to the President

Washington D.C., 20500

Dear Mr. President:

With COVID-19 cases surging nationwide, along with an influx of holiday travel and family gettogethers and the unanticipated high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, our nation stands at a pivotal point in the pandemic with the strength of the domestic supply chain to provide health products and essential goods.

Both citizens and the economy rely on workers at every link of the supply chain. It is becoming increasingly clear that the spread of Omicron poses the challenge of rapid disruption to America’s critical supply infrastructure sectors. These sectors and the industries they represent depend on essential workers, all of whom contribute to ensure the health, safety and well-being of Americans every day. Critical for sustaining this supply chain is the availability of accurate, readily available testing supplies to slow the spread of COVID-19, in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The undersigned organizations urge your administration to accelerate efforts to ensure test kit and supply availability and recognize the essential role of the industries represented below, by taking steps that would prioritize testing availability and access to tests for our nation’s critical infrastructure. Doing so would prevent interruption to critical goods and services at a time when Americans need them the most and would help to protect those workers who remain on the front lines of the pandemic. 

We are encouraged by efforts already underway within the administration to distribute testing supplies; nevertheless we know from the earliest days of the pandemic that the prioritization of testing supplies for essential workers is critical to preserving the functionality of the supply chain, upon which we all rely. We are grateful for your attention to this need and your continued strong leadership and dedication to combatting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Sincerely,

Agriculture Retailers Association

American Bakers Association

American Building Materials Alliance

American Cleaning Institute

American Feed Industry Association

Association of Equipment Manufacturers

Consumer Brands Association

Consumer Healthcare Products Association

 Corn Refiners Association

Crop Life America

Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.

FMI - The Food Industry Association

Fragrance Creators Association

Fresh Produce Association of the Americas

 International Bottled Water Association

International Fresh Produce Association

National Aquaculture Association

 National Association of Beverage Importers Inc.

National Automatic Merchandising Association

National Confectioners Association

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives

National Grocers Association

National Milk Producers Federation

National Pork Producers Council

National Restaurant Association

National Turkey Federation

North American Meat Institute

North American Millers' Association

 North American Renderers Association

Pet Food Institute

Responsible Industry for Sound Environment

The Fertilizer Institute

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America