President Biden Outlines his National Strategy to Combat the COVID 19 Virus

 On his first full day as President of the United States, Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Anthony Fauci, outlined his National Strategy, through Executive Actions, to combat the COVID 19 Virus.

Please click here to read the plan.

President Biden started his remarks by reminding the American People that:

• 400,000 Americans have died from the Coronavirus and the number may rise to 500,000 by mid-February.
• Twenty Four Million Americans have become infected with COVID 19.
• With only four percent of the World's population, the United States accounts for 25 percent of COVID 19 global infections and 20 percent of Coronavirus fatalities.
• Latino, Black, and Native American populations are more vulnerable to COVID 19 than others.
• The previous Administrations' vaccine roll-out efforts to combat the Coronavirus were largely a failure.
• Hospitals are running out of bed space, schools closed, and businesses shut down forever.
• "Things will get worse before they get better."

Biden presents his COVID 19 National Plan. 

Repeating what he said at the Lincoln Memorial on January 19, 2021, that "to heal, we must remember" those who have fallen to the Coronavirus, President Biden said, "We must act though, not just remember."

During the presentation, President Biden said he hoped the plan would also "restore public trust" and  "make sure that scientists and public health experts will speak directly to you...that they're free from political interference and that they make decisions based on science and health care alone."

Saying "we will get through this" and "help is on the way," Mr. Biden outlined several steps at a national level his Administration will take to combat COVID 19.

These are:

• An aggressive, safe, and national vaccination campaign to meet the goal of administering one hundred million vaccinations in a hundred days. The President said during his presentation that he has already directed F.E.M.A. to start setting up community vaccination centers with the goal of organizing 100 of them by late February. This also includes the Center for Disease Control organizing safe distribution and administering of vaccines in local pharmacies. Every state will now have a COVID 19 liaison with the federal government.
• Reimburse States for using their local National Guard Units 100 percent for helping out with COVID 19 relief efforts.
• Asking the American People to mask up for the first hundred days of the Biden/Harris Administration to check the spread of the Coronavirus. Biden said this would be a "patriotic act." Biden cited experts that said that wearing masks between now and April would save 50,000 lives.
• Extending masking mandates on interstate travel like trains, airplanes, and busses.
• Everyone flying to the United States needs to be tested for COVID 19 before boarding the plane and quarantining when they arrive. 
• Invoking the Defense Production Act to stabilize the supply chains on vaccinations and needed medical equipment. With over 400,000 dead (more than World War Two,) Biden told the audience this was a "wartime undertaking."
• Providing revised guidance and additional resources to reopen schools, child care facilities, and businesses. 
• Launching the COVID 19 Testing Board to expand Coronavirus examinations.
• Enforcement of stricter OSHA standards for frontline workers.
• Creating a health equity task force that will be designed to ensure no community (urban, rural, specific demographic group) is left behind.
• Rejoining the World Health Organization and reestablishing the Global Pandemic Division on the National Security Council.

In closing his comments, President Biden said that he and Vice President Harris would always be honest with the American People. He warned again that there would be "setbacks." He also said that the unity of the American People and "all of us acting as one nation" in banding together to combat the Coronavirus is vital to beating it. Mr. Biden reminded the people that the sooner we control and contain the pandemic is when life can return to normal.

To demonstrate that the new Administration was serious about letting the scientists speak for themselves at the White House Press room, Dr. Anthony Fauci started the White House Briefing today without anyone hovering over him or giving alternative information.

How refreshing.

How about time.

What a difference a Presidential Administration that believes in science and facts makes.