WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden gives a thanksgiving speech to a nation that wants to unite Americans in a coronavirus epidemic as experts warn of a possible peak in cases arising as a result of the holiday.
Biden’s interim team said the president-elect “will discuss the common sacrifices the Americans will make this holiday season and say we can get through the current crisis together”. Your comments come as COVID-19 cases have grown nationwide, the nation has an average of 165,000 new viral illnesses a day on Tuesday, an increase of more than 70% in two weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The rates of hospital care, deaths, and testing positivity also rise sharply as the nation approaches Thanksgiving Day, and public health experts have warned that large family gatherings expected for the holiday are likely to prolong and exacerbate the wave.
Biden said the pandemic had turned around after taking office in January, it will be a top priority for its administration and has made several public comments calling on Americans to adopt guidelines on wearing masks and social distance to combat proliferation. The elected Democratic president has set up a coronavirus advisory board scientists, doctors and public health experts, and plans to set up a COVID-19 coordinator in the White House to lead his administration’s response.
This week, however, Biden focused beyond the crisis state and introduced his national security team on Tuesday, along with his Secretary of State candidates, the Director of National Intelligence and the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Drawing implicit contradictions with President Donald Trump during the incident, Biden said the team “reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat.” Janet Yellent is also expected to be appointed treasurer in the coming weeks.
The team of the President-elect has also begun the next phase of interim preparations after Bump, the head of the General Services Administration appointed by Trump, has declared him the “apparent winner” of the election, removing a significant barrier to collaboration between Biden employees and their peers in the Trump administration.
Trump has refused to give in to the election, and his campaign in some states continues to pose legal challenges to the vote. But the GSA has established Biden’s victory, which means the transition can continue regardless of resistance from the Republican president.
In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Tuesday, Biden said he had received “immediate” briefings from Trump government national security officials and his team was working to organize the qualified briefings he had received as president-elect, as well as a meeting with the White House Coronavirus vaccine distribution plans.
“And I have to say that the information was honest,” he said.
Biden said that despite the delay in his temporary work, “I don’t think we’re going to be as far behind the curve as we thought we could be in the past.”
But in the coming days, Biden plans to focus some time on his family. He travels to Rehoboth Beach with his wife, Jill, the small seaside town of Delaware, where the two of them have a vacation home where they welcome their families for Thanksgiving dinner. Biden is expected to stay in Rehoboth over the weekend before returning to Wilmington for further work on the transition.
