- President Biden described the closing of schools and the departure of women from the labor market as “a national emergency”.
- “I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely,” he said during an interview with CBS.
- Biden expressed concern about the mental health crisis that was accelerated by the pandemic.
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President Joe Biden said in an interview which aired on Sunday that the closing of long-term schools and women leaving the job market during the coronavirus pandemic is “a national emergency”.
Speaking with “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell at the White House, Biden also expressed concern about the mental health crisis that was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
O’Donnell noted that about 20 million school-age children have been out of the classroom for nearly a year, and a recent CBS News report showed that nearly 3 million women have left the workforce since last year.
“It is a national emergency,” said Biden on the three issues. “It is genuinely a national emergency.”
When asked whether schools should reopen, Biden emphasized that they should reopen cautiously.
“I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely,” he said. “Safely. You have to have fewer people in the classroom. You have to have ventilation systems that have been redesigned.”
“Our commissioner CDC [Rochelle Walensky] will come out with a science-based trial, I think as early as Wednesday to establish what the minimum requirements are “, added the president.
—CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) February 7, 2021
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Last month, Biden signed an executive order for the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to develop guidelines for safely reopening schools in their first 100 days in office.
Biden said he and his team had to control the work left by former President Donald Trump’s government in releasing vaccines.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease specialist in the United States, said that to achieve collective immunity, about 75% of Americans will need to be vaccinated.
O’Donnell said that CBS News estimated it would take until the end of 2021 to reach that level with the current vaccination rate of 1.3 million doses per day.
“We can’t wait that long,” said Biden. “One of the disappointments was when we took office, because the circumstance related to the way the administration was dealing with COVID was even more terrible than we thought. We think it indicated that there was a lot more vaccine available, and it didn’t turn out to be the case. this is what we increase everywhere we can. “
He added: “But the idea that this can be done and that we can obtain collective immunity long before the end of this summer is very difficult.”
Since the pandemic began in the United States, nearly 27 million people have been infected and more than 463,000 have died, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.