President celebrates progress
Improvement marked by July Fourth event
On the day that President Joe Biden had long anticipated as a milestone in the fight against the coronavirus, the White House was set to host a celebration to both commemorate the Fourth of July and herald the administration’s progress toward overcoming the pandemic.
In bringing together about 1,000 people Sunday for the largest planned event of Biden’s presidency, the White House has been forced to walk a fine line, striving to
signal progress toward restoring normalcy while still acknowledging the dangers of a pandemic that continues to claim hundreds of lives a day.
For months, the White House had July 4 circled as a breakthrough moment in the pandemic, the point at which many restrictions could be lifted if the country met ambitious vaccination targets.
In the months after his election, Biden offered only guarded hope that small groups would be able gather by the holiday weekend while still observing familiar safety guidance.
But as vaccination rates climbed steadily throughout the spring, the White House grew more confident, describing the holiday as the beginning of a “summer of freedom” and the event Sunday as a celebration not only of Independence Day but also of “independence from COVID -19.”
The celebration at the White House will include remarks from Biden and a barbecue honoring attendees — a group of first responders, essential workers and service members, many of whom will be vaccinated and able to go without masks in accordance with guidance released in May by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, the Biden administration has been forced to concede in recent weeks that many challenges lie ahead.
While the White House once targeted July 4 as the date that at least 70 percent of adults would be at least partly vaccinated, officials acknowledged last month that they would almost certainly miss that goal as the vaccination rate has plummeted from a peak in April.
And while 20 states, Washington, D.C., and two territories exceeded the 70 percent mark last week, the country’s progress as a whole has slowed significantly, with only about 1 million doses now being administered each week on average. On Sunday, roughly 67 percent of adults had received at least one shot, according to data compiled by The New York Times.
The rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has also raised concerns among public health officials, who fear that new outbreaks could occur in parts of the country where vaccination rates have stayed comparatively low and that the variant could mutate in ways that leave even vaccinated Americans vulnerable.
While the pageantry at the White House will present a display of normality that seemed far from likely at the beginning of Biden’s term, the occasion will be characterized by a sense of restraint rarely seen under the previous administration.
Even as new cases swelled toward a summer peak last year, President Donald Trump went ahead with a 35-minute fireworks display and military flyovers on the National Mall, against the wishes of Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who urged people not to attend. The fireworks show this year will be only half as long, and Bowser, encouraged by progress on vaccines, has welcomed guests back to the city.
Under Trump, the White House hosted other large gatherings long before vaccines had been approved, including two celebrating the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in which he and several other attendees were believed to have been exposed and infected.
For Biden, the celebrations this year appear choreographed to signal that Americans can enjoy some degree of normality in coming together, even as his own public health officials have continued to stress the importance of maintaining momentum on vaccines.