A number of executive orders to resolve COVID-19 issues have been signed by US President Joe Biden, including making coronavirus testing accompanied by quarantine mandatory for all travellers coming from overseas.
In addition to wearing masks, anyone from another country flying to the United States will need to search before they get on the plane, before they leave, and quarantine when they arrive in America, Biden said at a White House event where he signed the instructions.
Our national initiative launches a full-scale wartime effort by ramping up production and protective supplies, syringes, needles, you name it, to resolve the supply shortages. And when I say wartime, do people see me as wartime? Well, as I said last night, 4,00,000 Americans have died. That’s more than World War II… this is a wartime undertaking, he said.
Next month, he said, the death toll will possibly top 5,00,000, adding that cases will continue to increase.
Overnight, we didn’t get into this mess and it’s going to take months for us to turn things around, but let me be equally clear that we’re going to get through this, we’re going to overcome this pandemic, and let me be the clearest on this point to a nation waiting for action, support is on the way, he said.
Biden said that this initiative represents the proposals he put forward during the campaign and they have been further refined over the past three months, announcing a national policy on COVID-19 and executive measures to beat the pandemic.
Biden said he instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to start setting up the first community vaccination centres that were federally funded. The aim is to set up 100 centres over the next month, he said.
Beginning in early February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will launch a federal pharmacy initiative to make vaccines accessible to communities.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also be charged with training and expanding the pool of medical professionals who can administer the vaccine and ensuring we have enough vaccinators to meet the needs of the nation rapidly, he said.
Biden also signed an executive order to use the Defense Procurement Act and all other powers available to direct all government agencies and the private sector to speed up the production of everything necessary to defend, research, vaccinate, and take care of individuals.
He, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the whole administration, Biden said, will still be frank and open with Americans about both the good and the bad news.
When we make a mistake, we’ll level up with you. He said, we’re going to say straight up what happened.
