Joe Biden stated that he will request Americans to devote to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his foremost actions as president, halting just a brief of the nationwide directive he’s tried before to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The move marks a notable shift from President Donald Trump, whose own skepticism of mask-wearing has contributed to a politicization of the issue. That’s made many people reticent to embrace a practice that public health experts say is one of the easiest ways to manage the pandemic, which has killed more than 275,000 Americans.
The new president has repeatedly highlighted mask-wearing as a “patriotic duty” and amid the campaign hovered the idea of initiating a nationwide mask order, which he later acknowledged would be above the capability of the president to implement. Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden stated that he would initiate the request to Americans on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.“On the first day I’m inaugurated, I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask not forever, just 100 days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction” in the virus, Biden said.
Biden also said he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to remain on in his administration, “in the same position he’s had for the past several presidents,” as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the nation’s leading infectious-disease specialist. The president-elect said he’s asked Fauci to be a “chief medical adviser” as well as part of his COVID-19 advisory squad. Concerning a coronavirus vaccine, Biden said he’d be “happy” to get vaccinated in public to satisfy any worries about its effectiveness and safeness. Three former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have told that they’d also get immunized publicly to demonstrate that it’s safe.“People have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work,” Biden said, adding that “it counts what a president and the vice president do.”In the same interview, Biden also considered reports that Trump is considering pardons of himself and his allies.
“It concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice,” Biden said. Biden devoted that his Justice Department will “operate independently” and that whoever he selects to guide the department will have the “independent capacity to decide who gets investigated.” You’re not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons, nor are you going to see in our administration the approach to making policy by tweets,” he said. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris added that any judgment coming out of the Department of Justice “should be based on facts, should be based on the law it should not be influenced by politics.”
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