Joe: No major shift vs. new health threat
With rising numbers of COVID-19 cases predicted this winter and the omicron variant already in the U.S., President Biden on Thursday appealed for Americans to get vaccinated, get booster shots, and get tested but without new major restrictions on daily life.
“Experts say the COVID-19 cases will continue to rise in the weeks ahead this winter, so we need to be ready,” Biden said during a visit to the National Institutes of Health in suburban Maryland after a briefing with scientific advisers.
He said his new strategy “doesn’t include shutdowns and lockdowns,” and he hoped for bipartisan backing.
The president made few major COVID-related restrictions or mandates in a speech that was planned before the first case of omicron was detected Wednesday and a second case Thursday in a Minneapolis man who recently traveled to New York City.
Multiple cases of the omicron coronavirus variant were detected in New York, Gov. Hochul and the city’s Mayor de Blasio announced late Thursday evening
“We’re going to fight this new variant strength with speed, not chaos and confusion,” Biden said. “If you’re worried about the omicron variant, the best thing you can do is get vaccinated and get your booster shot as soon as you’re eligible.”
Biden framed a far-reaching plan to increase COVID testing, including free or cheap at-home tests, and reprise his familiar pleas for Americans to get their shots for their own safety and the good of the entire country.
The White House believes the widespread implementation of booster shots is the most effective tool for combating what is already sure to be a treacherous fight to contain the pandemic in the coming weeks.
Much remains unknown about the omicron variant, including whether it is more contagious, whether it makes people more seriously ill and whether it can thwart the vaccines.
About 100 million Americans are eligible for boosters under current U.S. policy, with more becoming eligible every day as people reach the six-month mark from their final original vaccination. Convincing those who have already been vaccinated to get a booster shot is likely to be much easier than getting them to get their first vaccination.
But many public health experts say it is foolhardy to think that the pandemic can be contained as long as tens of millions of Americans stubbornly refuse to get vaccinated against COVID. Despite months of pleas, cajoling and mandates, some 43 million adult Americans have refused to roll up their sleeves to get the lifesaving shots.
Some of the vaccine holdouts may be still amenable to logic or persuasion, but many others are implacably opposed to getting the shot after months of right-wing anti-vaxxer propaganda.
Biden did cite a quick poll that showed nearly a third of those who have so far refused to get vaccinated might get a shot in response to the emerging threat posed by omicron.
“We hope they do,” Biden said. Biden’s vaccination-or-testing requirement for workers at larger employers has been held up by right-wing legal challenges.
The new push for testing includes requiring private insurers to cover at-home test kits covering as many as 150 million people. The government plans to hand out at least 50 million COVID-19 tests to older people as well as poor and vulnerable groups at senior centers and community sites.
Biden also extended the mask mandate for most public transportation for two additional months, into mid-March.