Biden strikes softer tone on lockdowns as COVID-19 cases surge
By: Emily Larsen (MSN)
I highlighted a few significant statements that Mr. Biden said. Why? Because some say that Mr. Trump has left the states on their own to cope with this. Seems Mr. Biden agrees............there is no one size fits all with so much of the "American way" in the balance.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Biden strikes softer tone on lockdowns as COVID-19 cases surge
Joe Biden is performing a delicate dance with his stance about lockdowns that aim to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
While the president-elect takes a much stricter tone about the virus than President Trump and other Republicans — his signature coronavirus proposal is a constitutionally murky national mask mandate, and he has suggested people have only small Thanksgiving gatherings — Biden resists outright support for shutdowns of public businesses even as cases spike across the country, and he willingly recognizes other harms that arise from lockdown life.
"I am not going to shut down the economy, period. I'm going to shut down the virus. That's what I'm going to shut down," Biden said Thursday. "No national shutdown because every region, every area, every community, can be different."
When asked in a press conference earlier this week if governors should be shutting down indoor dining and other activities, Biden was noncommittal.
"It depends on the state," he said, before praising governors who have implemented mask mandates.
And in a Wednesday conversation with front-line workers, Biden touched on some of the negative effects that lockdowns have on individuals.
"You know, if we don't figure out how to get these kids back to school, we are going to find that an entire generation is going to lose a year, a year and a half of in terms of their learning ability," Biden said. "All those folks, by the way, are being quarantined at home — there's a significant rise in spousal abuse, there's a significant rise in suicides."
Surges in substance abuse are also a concern, as well as child welfare, since educators account for more reports of child abuse than any other category.
Biden's reluctance to call for shutdowns of nonessential businesses explicitly represents not only a recognition of the social and economic strain that forced closure puts on people, but a reaction to the political risks of supporting lockdowns.
His position now marks a change from previous Biden assertions.
When asked in an August ABC interview if he would support lockdowns if experts recommended doing so in order to stop the spread of the virus, Biden said: "I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists."
The answer has haunted the president-elect.
Trump often cited the line in campaign attacks on Biden. "Why would we ever let Biden kill countless American businesses, jobs, and our economic future?" a narrator in a Trump campaign ad said in response to the Biden sound bite.
When asked about that statement on Friday, Biden grew irritated.
"It was a hypothetical question. The answer was I would follow the science," Biden said.
Biden hasn't totally deferred to experts when it comes to crafting coronavirus policy, however.
One member of Biden's coronavirus task force, epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, in a recent Yahoo Finance interview suggested a four- to six-week lockdown to slow the spread of the virus before a vaccine is available.
But Osterholm quickly walked back that suggestion, saying that he hadn't discussed it with the Biden team and that there would be little support for the idea in Congress. Other members of Biden's task force team publicly shut down the suggestion.
Biden is hardly encouraging people to live their normal lives, though.
"I would strongly urge — not just for your sake, but for the sake of your children, your mother, your father, whoever you get together at Thanksgiving — think about this. There should be no group more than 10 people inside the room," Biden said on Monday.
He says that the Trump administration's refusal to recognize him as the president-elect has shut him off from knowing the full picture of the government's capacity to address the virus and implement a vaccine delivery system.
And part of his reluctance about lockdowns could stem from ambiguity about what the federal government can constitutionally do in regards to encouraging certain social distancing standards, particularly without an act of Congress, the control of which will be decided by two Georgia Senate runoffs in early January.
"There are constraints to which the degree to which the businesses can be open," Biden said Thursday, noting that depending on the metrics about the virus in various communities, closures of businesses or reduced capacity could be necessary.
On Thursday, Biden gave a warning: "There is a dark winter still ahead."
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He's correct in his assertions.........as was the President.
So Biden's position on lockdowns has essentially become the same as Donald Trump's?
Other than issuing his mask requirement, which he has yet to do, what exactly would he do differently?
Birx explains, to a pretty damned good extent, the recent spike..................One needs to listen and look at her "chart" of new spreading. We've heard North Dakota is the highest rate in the US which, if you listen to her, makes a lot of sense.....................
That's one of the reasons during this time of year I take steps to acclimate myself to the cold so I can spend more time outside. I don't bundle up as warm as I can, instead I wear the least possible and still be comfortable in the cold. Last year I never even wore the heavy Carhartt's and only a couple of times wore thermals. Where I work the temperature never gets above 50 inside in the winter and I'm fine with that.
Birx explains, to a pretty damned good extent, the recent spike..................One needs to listen and look at her "chart" of new spreading. We've heard North Dakota is the highest rate in the US which, if you listen to her, makes a lot of sense.....................
Biden is being kept in the dark about this information. /s
They said months ago that we would get another spike in the fall.
I went to pick up some prescriptions at the beginning of October and the pharmacy was pushing the flu vaccine. I had never gotten one before but 2020 has been such a disaster I thought why not and got it.
I'm a diabetic so I have a higher risk for respiratory infections so I've gotten the flue shot for many years now. I haven't had a case of the flu in almost 20 years now.
Make sure you get it this year too, if you haven’t already. Stay healthy and make it almost 21 years going forward.
BTW Happy birthday to Joe Biden. He is 78 years old today and in two months, he'll take the reins and will get his chance to lead the nation through the worst public health crisis in a century.
If your definition of lead is do the exact same thing as Trump; while bashing Trump the entire time- then you are correct. Biden will take no responsibility for anything. There will always be a "but Trump!" If Biden doesn't say it the media will for him!
Just like Obama had a "but Bush" behind everything.
Oh ya, remember that? He blamed everything on Bush for a good part of his first term.
So... no real plan outside of what's been going on for 8 months.
Good one. hehehe
You nailed it sister!