- President Biden described school closures and women leaving the workforce as a ‘national emergency’.
- “I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely,” he said in a CBS interview.
- Biden has expressed concern about the mental health crisis accelerated by the pandemic.
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President Joe Biden said in an interview which aired Sunday that long-term closures of schools and women leaving the workforce during the coronavirus pandemic are ‘a national emergency’.
While speaking with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell in the White House, Biden also expressed concern about the mental health crisis accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
O’Donnell noted that about 20 million schoolchildren have been out of the classroom for nearly a year since then, and a recent CBS News report found that nearly 3 million women have been away from the workforce since last year.
“This is a national emergency,” Biden said on all three issues. “It really is a national emergency.”
Asked if schools should reopen, Biden stressed that they should reopen carefully.
“I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely,” he said. ‘Safe. You should have fewer people in the classroom. You must have ventilation systems that have been refurbished. ‘
“Our CDC Commissioner [Rochelle Walensky] will come forward with scientific judgment, because I think as early as Wednesday to determine what the minimum requirements are, ” the president added.
—CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) 7 February 2021
Read more: Within the 7-minute virtual workouts, the Biden transition team always kept in touch while staff members were willing to break down Trump’s policies
Last month, Biden signed an executive order for the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to draw up guidelines to reopen schools safely within his first 100 days in office.
Biden said he and his staff needed to get the job left behind by former President Donald Trump’s government when it comes to vaccine deployment.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the largest American expert in infectious diseases, said about 75% of Americans need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
O’Donnell said CBS News has calculated that it will take until the end of 2021 to reach the level at the current vaccination rate of 1.3 million doses per day.
“We can’t wait that long,” Biden said. ‘One of the disappointments when we took office was the circumstances surrounding the handling of COVID, even worse than we thought. We thought it indicated that there was more vaccine available, that is the case. That’s why we shot up everywhere. “
He added: “But the idea that this can be done and that we can get a lot of herd immunity before the end of this summer is very difficult.”
Since the pandemic began in the United States, nearly 27 million people have been infected and more than 463,000 people have died, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.