海角大神

Biden's No. 1 priority: Stop the spread of the coronavirus

President Biden signed 10 pandemic-related executive orders on Thursday. Mask wearing during travel will now be a federal mandate. Mr. Biden has also directed FEMA to set up vaccination centers and establish a Health Equity Task Force to support minority communities.

First Look

Deep in the deadliest coronavirus wave and facing worrisome new mutations, United States President Joe Biden聽will kick off his聽national COVID-19 strategy聽to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses, and increase the use of masks 鈥� including a requirement that Americans mask up for聽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聽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聽health guidance. He faces steep obstacles, with the virus actively spreading in most states, slow progress on the vaccine rollout, and political uncertainty聽over whether congressional Republicans will help him pass a聽$1.9 trillion economic relief and COVID-19 response package.

鈥淲e need to ask average Americans to do their part,鈥� said Jeff Zients, the White House official directing the national response. 鈥淒efeating the virus聽requires a coordinated nationwide effort.鈥�

Biden officials say they鈥檙e hampered by lack of cooperation from the Trump administration during the transition. They say they don鈥檛 have a complete understanding聽of their predecessors鈥� actions on vaccine distribution. And they face a litany of complaints from states that say they are not getting enough vaccine even聽as they are being asked to vaccinate more categories of people.

Mr. Biden acknowledged the urgency of the mission in his inaugural address.聽鈥淲e are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus,鈥� he said before asking Americans to join him in a moment of silence in聽memory of the more than聽400,000 people in the United States who have died from COVID-19.

Mr. Biden鈥檚 top medical adviser on COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, also announced聽renewed U.S. support for the World Health Organization聽after the Trump administration had pulled out of the global body. Dr. Fauci said early Thursday that the U.S. will join the U.N. health agency鈥檚 efforts to聽bring vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics to people in need, whether in rich or poor countries, and will resume full funding and staffing support for聽WHO.

The U.S. mask order for travel being implemented by Mr. Biden will apply to airports and planes, ships, intercity buses, trains, and public transportation.聽Travelers from abroad must furnish a negative COVID-19 test before departing for the U.S. and quarantine upon arrival. Mr. Biden has already mandated masks聽on federal property.

Although airlines, Amtrak, and other transport providers now require masks, Mr. Biden鈥檚 order makes it a federal mandate, leaving little wiggle room for passengers聽tempted to argue about their rights. It marks a sharp break with the culture of the Trump administration, under which masks were optional,聽and Mr. Trump made a point of going maskless and hosting big gatherings of like-minded supporters. Science has shown that masks, properly worn, cut down on聽coronavirus transmission.

Mr. Biden is also seeking to expand testing and vaccine availability, with the goal of聽100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. Mr.聽Zients called Mr. Biden鈥檚 goal 鈥渁mbitious and achievable.鈥�

The Democratic president has directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin setting up vaccination centers, aiming to have 100 up and running聽in a month. He鈥檚 ordering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to begin a program to make vaccines available through local pharmacies starting聽next month. And he鈥檚 mobilizing the Public Health Service to deploy to assist localities in vaccinations.

There鈥檚 also support for states. Mr. Biden is ordering FEMA to reimburse states for the full cost of using their National Guards to set up vaccination centers. That includes the use of supplies and protective gear as well as personnel.

But some independent experts say the administration should be setting a higher bar for itself than 100 million shots. During flu season, the U.S. is able聽to vaccinate about 3 million people a day, said Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. 鈥淕iven the number聽of people dying from COVID, we could and should do more 鈥� like what we鈥檙e able to do on seasonal flu,鈥� he said.

Mr. Zients said Mr. Biden will not follow through on a Trump administration plan to penalize states lagging in vaccination by shifting some of their allocation聽to more efficient states. 鈥淲e are not looking to pit one state against another,鈥� he said.

Mr. Biden has set a goal of having most K-8 schools reopen in his first 100 days, and he鈥檚 ordering the departments of Education and Health and Human Services聽to provide clear guidance for reopening schools safely. States would also be able to tap FEMA鈥檚 Disaster Relief Fund to help them get schools back open.

Getting schools and child care going will help to ease the drag on the U.S. economy, making it easier for parents to return to their jobs and restaurants聽to find lunch-time customers.

But administration officials stressed that reopening schools safely depends on increased testing.

To ramp up supplies, Mr. Biden is giving government agencies a green light to use a Cold War-era law called the Defense Production Act to direct manufacturing.

鈥淲e do not have nearly enough testing capacity in this country,鈥� Mr. Zients said. 鈥淲e need the money in order to really ramp up testing, which is so important聽to reopen schools and businesses.鈥�

This means that efforts to reopen the economy will hinge on how quickly lawmakers act on the $1.9 trillion package proposed by Mr. Biden, which includes separate聽planks such as $1,400 in direct payments to people, a $15 minimum wage, and aid to state and local governments that some Republican lawmakers see as unnecessary聽for addressing the medical emergency. The Biden plan estimates that a national vaccination strategy with expanded testing requires $160 billion, and he聽wants another $170 billion to aid the reopening of schools and universities. The proposal also calls for major investment in scientific research to track聽new strains of the virus, amid concern that some mutations may spread more easily and also prove harder to treat.

As part of his COVID-19 strategy, Mr. Biden will order the establishment of a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force to ensure that minority and underserved communities聽are not left out of the government鈥檚 response. Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans have borne a heavy burden of death and disease from the virus. Surveys聽have shown vaccine hesitancy is high among African Americans, a problem the administration plans to address through an education campaign.

But Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, the top White House health adviser on minority communities, said she鈥檚 not convinced that race should be a factor in vaccination.聽Disparities seem to have more to do with risky jobs and other life circumstances.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not inherent to race,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 from the exposures.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Collin Binkley and Josh Boak contributed to this report.

Editor鈥檚 note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It鈥檚 free.