WASHINGTON (AP) – As the US is ‘most likely the most difficult and deadly period of the virus’, President Joe Biden proposes a national COVID-19 strategy to set up vaccinations and tests, to reopen schools and businesses and to increase the use of masks – including the requirement that they be worn for travel.
Biden will also address inequalities in less-affected minority communities as he signs ten executive orders on pandemic on Thursday, his second day in office.
“We need to ask average Americans to do their part,” said White House official Jeff Zients. ‘To defeat the virus requires a coordinated nationwide effort. ‘
But Biden officials say they are hampered by the Trump administration’s lack of cooperation during the transition. They say they do not have a full understanding of their predecessors’ actions regarding the distribution of vaccines.
They also depend on Congress to provide $ 1.9 billion for economic relief and COVID-19 response. And they have a grievance of complaints from countries that say they are not getting enough vaccine even because they are being asked to vaccinate more categories of people.
In his inaugural address, Biden acknowledged the urgency of the mission. “We are entering the most difficult and deadly period of the virus,” he said before asking Americans to join him in a moment of silence in memory of the more than 400,000 people in the United States who have died. from COVID-19.
Biden’s leading medical adviser on COVID-19, dr. Anthony Fauci, also announced renewed US support for the World Health Organization. after the Trump administration received scathing criticism and set out new commitments to tackle the coronavirus and other global health issues. Fauci said early Thursday that the US would join the UN Health Agency in bringing vaccines, medicines and diagnostics to people in need, whether in rich or poor countries, and would resume full funding and staff support for WHO.
The US travel mask mask order implemented by Biden applies to airports and aircraft, ships, city buses, trains and public transportation. Travelers from abroad must take a negative COVID-19 test before leaving for the US upon arrival and quarantine. Biden has already ordered masks on federal property.
Although airlines, Amtrak and other carriers now need masks, Biden’s order makes it a federal mandate, giving passengers the temptation to argue about their rights. This indicates a sharp break with the culture of President Donald Trump’s government, under which masks were optional, and Trump aimed to be maskless and to offer large gatherings of like-minded supporters. Science has shown that masks, worn properly, reduce the transmission of coronavirus.
Biden also seeks to expand vaccine testing and availability, with the goal of having 100 million shots in its first hundred days in office. Zients calls Biden’s goal ‘ambitious and achievable’.
The Democratic president instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin setting up vaccination centers, with the goal of getting 100 up and running within a month. He recommends the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to launch a program to make vaccines available through local pharmacies from next month. And he mobilizes the Public Health Service to deploy to help locals with vaccinations.
Some independent experts believe that the administration should set a higher standard for itself than 100 million shots. During the flu season, the US can vaccinate about 3 million people a day, said Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle said. “Given the number of people dying from COVID, we can and should do more, as we can do against seasonal flu,” he said.
Zients said Biden would not follow a Trump administration plan to punish vaccinated states by shifting from their allocation to more efficient states. “We do not want to set one state against another,” he said.
Biden has set itself the goal of reopening most K-8 schools in its first 100 days, and he urges the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to provide clear guidance on how to reopen schools safely.
Getting schools and childcare up and running will help reduce the U.S. economy, making it easier for parents to return to their jobs and restaurants to find lunch customers.
But administrative officials stressed that the reopening of schools safely depends on heightened tests.
To sharpen the stockpile, Biden gives government agencies a green light to use a Cold War law, the Defense Act direct production.
“We do not have nearly enough testing capacity in this country,” Zients said. “We need the money to really get the testing going, which is so important to reopen schools and businesses.”
This means that any attempt to reopen the economy depends on how quickly legislators act on the $ 1.9 billion package proposed by Biden, which includes separate boards, such as $ 1,400 in direct payments to people, a minimum wage of $ 15 and assistance to state and local governments that some Republican lawmakers consider unnecessary to address the medical emergency. The Biden plan estimates that a national vaccination strategy with extensive testing will require $ 160 billion, and he wants another $ 170 billion to help reopen schools and universities.
As part of its COVID-19 strategy, Biden will advocate the establishment of a COVID-19 Health Equality Task Force to ensure that minority and underserved communities are not left out of government response. Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans have a heavy burden of death and disease due to the virus. Surveys have shown that vaccination among African Americans is high, a problem the government plans to address through an education campaign.
But dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, the White House’s leading health adviser to minority communities, said she was not convinced that race should be a factor in vaccination. Differences seem to have more to do with risky work and other living conditions.
“It’s not inherent in race,” she said. “It comes from exposure.”
There is also support for statements in the package. Biden orders FEMA to reimburse states for the full cost of using their national guards to set up vaccination centers. This includes the use of supplies and protective equipment as well as personnel. States will also be able to tap FEMA’s disaster relief fund to help them reopen schools.
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Associated Press authors Collin Binkley and Josh Boak contributed to this report.