Biden plans Covid strategy, masks a must for travel
President Biden reverses Trump’s decisions, sets a clear policy path for new administration
Washington, Jan. 21: Deep in the deadliest coronavirus wave and facing worrisome new mutations, President Joe Biden will kick off his national Covid-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses and increase the use of masks — including a requirement that Americans mask up for travel.
Mr Biden also will address inequities in hard-hit minority communities as he signs 10 pandemic-related executive orders on Thursday. Those orders are a first step, and specific details of many administration actions are still being spelled out.
The new President has vowed to take far more aggressive measures to contain the virus than his predecessor, starting with stringent adherence to public health guidance.
He faces steep obstacles, with the virus actively spreading in most states, slow progress on the vaccine rollout and political uncertainty over whether Congressional Republicans will help him pass a $1.9 trillion economic relief and Covid response package.
“We need to ask average Americans to do their part,” said Jeff Zients, the White House official directing the national response. “Defeating the virus requires a coordinated nationwide effort.”
Biden officials say they’re hampered by lack of cooperation from the Trump administration during the transition. They say they don’t have a complete understanding of their predecessors’ actions on vaccine distribution. And they face a litany of complaints from states that say they are not getting enough vaccine even as they are being asked to vaccinate more categories of people.
“We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest 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 US who have died from Covid-19.
Washington, Jan. 21: US President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to launch his administration Wednesday, including a decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord and a mask mandate for all federal buildings.
The orders included keeping the United States in the World Health Organization, ending the ban on entries from mostly Muslim-majority countries, bolstering environmental protections and strengthening the fight against Covid-19.
Also among the directives was a halt to construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border, and efforts to expand diversity and equality for minority groups in the federal government.
The orders were aimed at reversing decisions by his predecessor Donald Trump and setting a clear policy path for Biden's new administration, just hours after he was sworn in as president.
“Some of things we are going to be doing are going to be bold,” he said in the Oval Office.
“We are going to combat climate change in a way we have not done so far,” Biden said of returning to the Paris agreement, a treaty signed by most nations in 2016 to limit global warming.
He said his actions on the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed 400,000 American lives, would help change the course of the crisis.
His return to the Paris Agreement, which the United States joined Barack Obama was president and Biden vice president, was lauded by other leaders.
“Welcome back,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We are together. We will be stronger to face the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet.”UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres also welcomed the move, saying it was a large step for the leading producers of global carbon pollution.
“But there is a very long way to go,” he said in a statement.
“We look forward to the leadership of United States in accelerating global efforts towards net zero” emissions, he said, calling for “ambitious” new targets for 2030 and expanded climate finance.
Biden's climate czar John Kerry hailed the move as a boon for “America's credibility and commitment — setting a floor, not a ceiling, for our climate leadership.”
There is a much broader scope of political accord with President Biden. There would be debates about how we can do things well for both countries. Biden represents the interests of the US, I represent those of the Federal Republic of Germany
— ANGELA MERKEL
German Chancellor
Best wishes on this most significant day for the American people! We are together. We will be stronger to face the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet. Welcome back to the Paris Agreement!
— EMMANUEL MACRON
French President