In his first day in office, Joe Biden kept true to his promise to fight Covid-19 harder then Trump did, signing 10 executive orders outlining his new strategies to take down Covid. Some of these orders include: no longer holding back any doses of the vaccine, manufacturing things such as syringes and needles through the Defense Protection Act to help prevent supply chain bottlenecks, as well as taking a much more hands on approach to how individual states vaccinate. In the Trump Administration, vaccines were not initially given out right away and after they were, Trump had no real plan for how each state should use these vaccines, he kind of just let them figure it out on their own. With the Biden Administration, states are now being given a liaison to oversee vaccine distribution, this person is helping the state government set up more testing and vaccination sites, speeding up the process to eradicate Covid. Biden hopes that with this new plan showing much more initiative than the previous administration did, that Americans will have a renewed trust in the government's handling of the pandemic.
With all of these new initiatives taking place, Biden hopes to be able to re open K-8 schools within 100 days. However, he warns that “things are going to continue to get worse before they get better”. The grim reality of the pandemic, is that the USA will surpass 500,000 deaths by the end of the next month.
Does Biden’s new executive orders put us on the right track to end Covid?
Is reopening schools in the next 100 days a realistic goal?
4 comments:
President Biden certainly has an ambitious set of tasks ahead of him, and Americans will be watching closely to see whether or not he is successful in executing the increased vaccine distributions and returning students to schools, safely. This week, from Jan. 25-Jan.29, Biden has his schedule laid out for him, possibly requiring week-long executive action.
On Monday, he plans on strengthening goods and services to support U.S. businesses. On Tuesday, he will address race relations through a strengthening task force, improving prison conditions, and outlawing targeted discrimination in light of the pandemic. By the middle of the week, he will address domestic efforts to actively prevent climate change, and on Thursday, he seeks to improve healthcare through greater access to Medicaid. Lastly, by Friday, Biden will work on immigration reform with a family reunification task force.
Biden has a busy week ahead. Hopefully, through approving such legislation, the administration will be on the right track to improving diplomacy, environmental efforts, and race relations in the U.S.
I think that it is very reassuring to see plans be put into place but I don't think that it will exactly "end Covid". There are still so many outliers and though I think we are on a better path than we were with Trump as President I don't think that Covid will just end. Obviously we will be one step closer and with vaccinations people might finally start to feel safe again, but there are still other things we have to think about. There will still be issues with people not wanting the vaccine and even after everyone that wants to be vaccinated is, there are still going to be other issues that we haven't thought of. Picking up the economy, getting back to how things were pre-covid and just learning how to go back to "normal" is going to be easier said than done. I think reopening schools for Fall 2021 is definitely an obtainable goal, but I don't know about this semester. Obviously as a high school senior, we want more than anything for schools to reopen, but I think that again, it's easier said than done. We could possibly have a hybrid program or some sort of in person learning but I think a lot of people would rather we safe than sorry and not send their kids to school until it really is safe to do so. I think we all need to be optimistic for the future, but we also need to think about how our actions today can affect our futures and prioritize what is important to us.
I agree with Ashley that, while Biden's plan may feel unattainable, the fact that he has a plan at all will certainly have some sort of impact. It's reassuring to have a Presidential Administration that actually recognizes the threat of COVID-19. Furthermore, Biden has repeatedly emphasized that he is committed to getting the virus under control (just look at his Twitter) which makes me hopeful for a government that is fully focused on putting the US on a path of recovery.
One aspect of the policies described Murphy that I liked was the fact that the President appointed a liaison to oversee vaccine distribution. While some may disagree, I believe that with an issue as broad and devastating as a global pandemic, unity across states in regards of COVID-19 decisions is important.
I think a large difference between Biden and Trump’s vaccine plans (besides the existence of one and essentially nonexistence of the other) is Biden’s decision to “release” vaccine doses. These doses weren’t being saved for no reason; they were saved so at-risk people can get both doses in order to have a greater guarantee of immunity (50-60% is good, but for frontline workers in LTCF or hospitals, 40% can make a huge difference in their comfort). Regardless, a blanket of some immunity for many may be better than complete immunity for some. I fear blanket immunity may provide a false sense of comfort and end up expediting reopening and spiking cases, but having a COVID-19 believer in office is a good start. I’m glad Fauci feels safe talking again.
Post a Comment