Biden unveils ‘wartime effort’ to battle coronavirus

President Biden is cracking down on mask wearing and stepping up federal efforts to produce and distribute coronavirus vaccines as part of a “war-time effort” to battle the deadly disease.

Biden on Thursday laid out his new national strategy for combating the coronavirus as he warned the nation’s death toll could exceed 500,000 next month. He signed 10 executive orders aimed at boosting the nation’s testing and vaccine distribution, increasing travel safety and getting students back into classrooms.

“For the past year, we couldn’t rely on the federal government to act with the urgency and focus and coordination we needed. And we have seen the tragic cost of that failure,” Biden said on his first full day in office. “To a nation waiting for action, let me be clear on this point: Help is on the way.”

Biden green-lit the Defense Production Act to boost production of vaccines and supplies like syringes and masks as part of a “full-scale, wartime effort to address supply shortages,” and to help meet his goal of administering 100 million vaccines in 100 days — effectively inoculating about 50 million people.

“This will be one of the greatest operational challenges our nation has ever undertaken, and I’m committed to getting it done,” Biden said.

The president reiterated his goal of opening 100 federally supported vaccination centers within the next month. And he directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a COVID-19 liaison for each state to help “maximize cooperation” with the feds — a message welcomed by Massachusetts officials.

“We now have some real, serious national support,” Worcester Medical Director Dr. Michael Hirsh told reporters. “Working with that staff is going to be really important and new and very refreshing to all of us who have been feeling a little bit like it’s been riding on the back of our municipalities.”

Biden also moved ahead with requiring masks to be worn in airports and on most airplanes, trains, public ships and buses. He doubled down on the CDC’s new requirement that international travelers produce a recent negative COVID-19 test prior to their arrival, which goes into effect Tuesday. And he said international travelers must quarantine upon their arrival, though he didn’t say for how long.

Other executive actions signed Thursday aim to provide “clear guidance and resources to safely reopen” the majority of K-8 schools in the next 100 days, reimburse states for deploying National Guard troops to aid pandemic response and create a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

The Biden administration began shifting pandemic response onto the federal government amid competing narratives about vaccine distribution plans under former President Donald Trump. Press secretary Jen Psaki said “the Trump administration left us with no plan.” But Dr. Anthony Fauci said,” We certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3iBIPm9