WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – President Joe Biden on Thursday
tightened mask wearing rules and ordered quarantine for people flying into
the United States, as he got to work on tackling the coronavirus pandemic on
his first full day in power.
Signing 10 executive orders in the White House, Biden told the nation that
the Covid-19 death toll would likely rise from 400,000 to half a million next
month — and that drastic action was needed.
“We’re in a national emergency. It’s time we treated it like one,” he said,
adding that he wants to restore public trust in the wake of the divisive
Donald Trump era.
Scientists, he said, will “work free from political interference” under his
administration, and he pledged: “We will level with you when we make a
mistake.”
In addition to needing a negative Covid test result before flying,
travelers to the US will now need to quarantine upon arrival, Biden said.
This toughened existing regulations under Trump.
Biden’s other orders included reenergizing a so-far-stumbling vaccination
program and expanding requirements to wear masks on public transport.
Wearing masks “has become a partisan issue, unfortunately, but it’s a
patriotic act,” Biden said, in a marked contrast to Trump, who for months
gave mixed messages about whether or not to encourage the practice.
– 100 million doses –
Although vaccines were produced at a blistering speed in Trump’s final year
in power, the rollout has been chaotic.
“What we’re inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined,” Jeff
Zients, the new White House Covid-19 response coordinator, told reporters.
Biden has announced a goal of 100 million vaccines administered in 100
days, with his top experts saying it remains possible. So far, only 16.5
million doses have been injected.
When asked Thursday if he had been ambitious enough, Biden shot back: “When
I announced it, you all said it’s not possible. Come on, give me a break,
man.”
Biden said the administration was expanding places where Americans will be
able to get their doses, with new community centers and extra medical staff
to administer the vaccine.
He has also restored top infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci to a
leading, visible advisory role in the White House, after Trump complained
about the expert’s warnings on Covid.
Fauci, a regular presence in the White House before being effectively
banished, was back in the briefing room Thursday — also pushing the message
that public trust should be rebuilt.
“One of the things we’re going to do is to be completely transparent, open
and honest if things go wrong,” he said, noting he had discussed this with
Biden minutes earlier.
“The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know… it is
somewhat of a liberating feeling,” Fauci said.
– Covid overshadows presidency –
The pandemic has overshadowed the Biden administration from its first
moments.
Only a few spectators were allowed to attend his swearing-in on Wednesday
and everyone, from the military band to his wife Jill, looked on from behind
face masks.
Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, began their day on Thursday by
participating in a traditional inaugural prayer service which also had to be
conducted virtually, because of the coronavirus.
The flood of executive orders and other directives which Biden began
signing immediately on Wednesday has likewise focused mostly on his new
national mask and vaccination strategy.
In addition, he is bringing major firepower to trying to get a massive
stimulus bill through Congress to help Americans.
He faces multiple other challenges, including the aftershocks of a giant
government computer hack blamed on Russia, and searing Trump-era political
tensions — an issue that could soon take center stage in a Senate
impeachment trial of the ex-president.
Other fronts that Biden has opened include new protections for so-called
“Dreamers” — children of illegal immigrants who have now grown up in the
country and had been shielded from deportation.
Yet another big blast at his predecessor’s record was to immediately put
the United States back into the Paris climate accord.
– Instant change –
Although Biden won comfortably at the polls on November 3, Trump’s efforts
to persuade tens of millions of followers that the election was stolen has
left the veteran Democrat with a hostile opposition.
Democrats now control both chambers of Congress, but the existing majority
in the House of Representatives narrowed in the November election.
In the Senate, the two parties are split 50-50, with a tie-break vote by
the new vice president giving Democrats the most razor-thin of margins.
That landscape ensures Biden’s administration an uphill climb to get things
moving. Even confirmation of his cabinet nominees risks getting tied up.
Late Wednesday, the 78-year-old president got his first cabinet-level
confirmation: Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence.
A Senate confirmation vote for Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin was scheduled
for Friday morning, followed by possible votes on Treasury nominee Janet
Yellen and top diplomat Antony Blinken.
Transportation Secretary pick Pete Buttigieg, a former rival of Biden in
the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, appeared for a Senate
confirmation hearing on Thursday.