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President Biden says the COVID-19 plan is “based on science, not politics”
President Biden is implementing his national COVID-19 strategy to increase vaccination and testing.
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President Joe Biden started running on his first full day in office, signing ten more executive orders as part of his government’s national strategy to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
While some plans are pending approval of the president’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package, others will have an immediate impact on the nation’s daily response to the virus.
Overall, public health experts said, they are excited to see science driving a cohesive national strategy.
“It was about time,” he said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of Emory University School of Medicine. “We are finally having federal leadership. … This is really what should have happened 400,000 deaths before. “
This is just the first step. Experts said that these high-level guidelines will take time to become detailed actions.
“We have to start broadly and identify major problems, but the implementation of each of them will be a lot of work,” Dr. Eric Toner, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “There will be challenges.”
What will be most difficult to implement and what will have the most impact on the coronavirus pandemic? Here are some tips from experts.
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Immediate impact: Federal mandate of facial mask
On Wednesday, Biden signed an executive order demanding masks and guidelines for social distance in federal assets for the next 100 days to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This does not apply to many people, as most Americans do not spend much time in federal buildings or on federal land. Biden extended the policy on Thursday with another executive order requiring the use of masks at airports and certain means of transport, such as airplanes, trains, sea ships and intercity buses.
This will have an immediate impact on Americans’ lives, as most airports do not have firm mask policies. Only airports in locations that have state or local mask requirements have the authority to quote, issue or, in some cases, expel travelers who do not comply.
Public health experts say facial masks are an effective way to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Last fall, scientists said that if at least 95% of the population wore masks in public, it could save almost 130,000 lives from the end of September 2020 to the end of February 2021, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine.
Del Rio said airlines have been struggling to require passengers to wear masks on planes because there was no federal order. The masks became a point of political contention in the previous government, he said, but Americans must comply with federal law.
An important question remains: how will this be applied?
“We have to find out who is going to enforce this,” said Toner. “Is it going to be TSA? Flight crews? What do you do if someone doesn’t obey? “
Difficult to implement: School reopening
Another executive order signed on Thursday directs “a national strategy to reopen schools safely”. It includes requiring Education and Health and Human Services departments to provide guidance on the safe reopening and operation of schools, childcare providers and higher education institutions.
School reopening plans are a patchwork of classroom, virtual and hybrid classes that are different in each state and school district. More than half of American students were enrolled in schools, learning entirely virtually before the holidays, according to Burbio, a company that tracks schools’ COVID-19 plans.
Toner said that this will be one of the most difficult policies to implement because even public health experts have no idea how this can be achieved.
“There is no consensus among experts on the right thing to do,” he said.
Health experts say masks, social distance and hand hygiene practices in schools will help reduce the risk of infection, but it is up to schools to find out how to put these recommendations into practice.
Cases among children remain lower than in other age groups, but a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on January 13 found that cases have increased since the summer.
More than 211,000 new childhood cases of COVID-19 were reported last week, the biggest weekly increase since the start of the pandemic, according to a report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association. On January 14, about 2.5 million children were infected with COVID-19.
The federal government has very little authority over schools.
Each state is different, but local governments, school councils, teacher unions and parent organizations can hinder the implementation of federal recommendations.
“They can decide on guidance, but it will be up to state and local school boards to follow that guidance,” said Toner.
Teachers’ union officials suggest that it would take more than vaccines to get students into classrooms. Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Teachers’ Federation, said vaccines are an important piece of the puzzle for getting students into classrooms, but not the only one.
She is “concerned that, in a hurry to bring children back to schools”, further relaxation of quarantine guidelines will lead to more cases in the state.
Another executive order signed by Biden on Thursday will restore full reimbursement to districts – over 75% – to support the reopening of safe schools through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund.
Del Rio said it could determine whether schools decide to follow federal guidelines on reopening or not.
“What do states respond to? States respond to something called money, ”he said. “If there is funding to help them open schools, they will open schools.”
Insufficient: 100 million vaccines in 100 days
Biden promised to administer 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the first 100 days of his presidency, something Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, reiterated on Thursday on NBC News’ “Today”.
“We said 100 million doses in the first 100 days and we are going to follow that plan,” she said.
Biden set four priorities for this in a plan presented last week: allowing more people to be vaccinated; create more places for people to be vaccinated; mobilize more medical teams; and increase the supply.
Public health experts said this is possible; in fact, it is already being done.
Del Rio said the country administers 800,000 to 1 million doses a day. At this rate, the US can achieve herd immunity until the fall.
As of Thursday, 35.9 million doses have been distributed to the states and 16.5 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
To vaccinate the majority of the population by summer, the United States would have to increase vaccination to 2 million to 3 million a day.
Other orders from Biden include invoking the Defense Production Act to speed up the manufacture and delivery of pandemic supplies, directing further studies to identify COVID-19 treatments and establish a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
Experts said the country may not see the impact of these orders immediately.
“The rest will take more time and therefore its impact will depend on how long it takes to be implemented and where we are in the pandemic at that time,” said Toner.
Contributing: Joey Garrison and Ken Alltucker
Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT
USA TODAY health and safety coverage is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Health. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial contributions.
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