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The Pandemic is OVER!!!! Biden said so.

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  • The Pandemic is OVER!!!! Biden said so.

    Biden declared the pandemic 'over.' His Covid team says it's more complicated.

    Biden's "60 Minutes" remarks surprised his own health advisers, and came as the administration seeks more Covid response funding.

    White House officials spent the better part of this year plotting a delicate, step-by-step process they hoped would guide the U.S. out of its pandemic era.

    One element that was not part of that plan: President Joe Biden just coming out and saying it.

    “The pandemic is over,” Biden said in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday night. “We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over.”
    The declaration surprised the president’s own senior health officials, many of whom only learned about Biden’s remarks from tweets and news headlines. The president had not originally planned to make major news on Covid, nor had he discussed with his health advisers announcing an end to the pandemic soon, two senior officials said.

    When the White House reviewed a transcript of his comments after the interview, which was taped earlier in the week, it did not alert its Covid team — leaving the administration without a coordinated response for the immediate aftermath.

    In the hours since, health officials have privately and sarcastically applauded themselves for a job well done: After 20 months of round-the-clock work, they joked, all it took to end a once-in-a-century crisis was for Biden to declare it finished. Others argued that the time had actually come for such a declaration; that the virus is in a manageable state and Biden was simply putting in blunt terms where his administration has long been headed.

    Substantively, however, there was lingering concern that Biden’s off-the-cuff comments could undercut the White House’s effort to actually bring the public health emergency that is the Covid crisis to a formally declared close — and turn into a political headache should the virus come roaring back.

    “We are not where we need to be if we are going to quote ‘live with the virus’,” Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Monday. “We still must be aware of how unusual this virus is and continues to be in its ability to evolve into new variants which defy the standard public health mechanisms of addressing an outbreak.”

    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

  • #2
    I think more importantly, the American people have said it's over. It's now a background concern like the flu. We'll get vaxed as we see fit. Regrettably, some will die from it.

    The only people who want this not to be over are the public health officials and government leaders who get extra power and don't want to lose it.
    "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

    "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

    Comment


    • #3
      Far too much at stake to call an end to it yet. Some governors and mayors are loathe to give up the power they had.


      And this from CNN (which really brings up the point -- why does anyone even listen to what he says any more?)

      Source: Why people keep correcting the President


      President Joe Biden vowed to voters he would always give it to them straight. But his blunt talk keeps getting him into trouble.

      Biden is on a streak of talking "straight from the shoulder," as he once said, on Taiwan, the pandemic, ex-President Donald Trump's extreme MAGA supporters and whether Vladimir Putin should be leading Russia.

      But each time he lays down the law, some White House official, Democratic lawmaker or political ally explains that the President didn't actually say what everyone heard him say, or that he didn't actually mean what he appeared to.

      Now, all the mopping up is raising the question of whether the walk-backs are doing more damage than the President's initial frankness by undermining his authority.

      Biden is a self-admitted gaffe machine -- his loose tongue often got him into hot water in the Senate and was why he was initially mistrusted by some Obama administration aides as vice president. But Biden is now the commander in chief and can say what he wants -- until the clean-up operation kicks into action.

      Often, this comes across as disrespectful to the President. It makes it look like he doesn't know his own mind, or has strayed from a script that subordinates set for him. It offers an opening for Republicans who cast doubt on his cognitive capacity and his fitness for prime time. But the problem also runs deeper: A president's words resonate. In times of crisis, lives can be on the line. Their words move markets. Being constantly corrected sows confusion about Biden's authority and leadership.

      [...]

      But Biden's straight talk isn't just causing problems abroad. His remark in the "60 Minutes" interview that the "pandemic is over" set government public health officials scrambling, seemed to annoy Democrats on Capitol Hill who have argued for more aid and offered Republicans an opening. Biden did condition his remark by saying that Covid-19 still a problem and there is a lot of work to do. But he again caused officials to try and reframe exactly what he meant and stirred criticism from epidemiologists.

      "What the President is reflecting is the fact that we've made tremendous progress against Covid-19. We're in a very different place now than we were at the beginning of this pandemic," Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told MSNBC in attempt to defuse Biden's remark without contradicting him.

      The impression that Biden's remark was a rash aside rather than a considered strategy was bolstered on Tuesday night when Biden adopted Murthy's framing at a fundraiser in New York.



      Source

      © Copyright Original Source



      [*The rest of the article can be found at the hyperlink provided*]

      Apparently those on his Covid White House task force weren't even aware on his declaration until it was broadcast by 60 Minutes Sunday night.

      I'm sooo glad that the "adults" and "professionals" are in charge.


      I'm always still in trouble again

      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

      Comment


      • #4
        Also, it over because I see a lot of government Covid support programs (like aid to small businesses) being ended. It must be over if the government doesn't have a program for it.
        "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

        "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
          Also, it over because I see a lot of government Covid support programs (like aid to small businesses) being ended. It must be over if the government doesn't have a program for it.
          That is what got a lot of Democrats upset. They've been pushing to extend it -- but if the president says it is over...

          I'm always still in trouble again

          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
            That is what got a lot of Democrats upset. They've been pushing to extend it -- but if the president says it is over...
            So, yet ANOTHER case of, "well, that's not what he meant".
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

              So, yet ANOTHER case of, "well, that's not what he meant".
              Presidents have their comments walked back by staff before but never have I seen it done so frequently and being done over and over regarding the same "gaffes" made at different times.

              At what point do we just start ignoring what he says?

              I'm always still in trouble again

              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                Presidents have their comments walked back by staff before but never have I seen it done so frequently and being done over and over regarding the same "gaffes" made at different times.

                At what point do we just start ignoring what he says?
                What who says?
                The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

                  What who says?
                  The you know, the thing.

                  Comment

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