During the White House press briefing on Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki claimed that the country will not go back to lockdown; she stated this despite the surging number of COVID cases, due to the delta variant.
Psaki claims the Biden administration is in a much stronger place, compared to when they took office
A reporter asked the White House press secretary whether the public in general should prepare for another lockdown in the country, due to the rising cases of COVID-19 caused by the highly transmittable delta variant.
Psaki answered saying that we are not in “March 2020” nor “January 2021.” She touted that the Biden administration is in a powerful place, compared to when the previous administration stepped out of the White House. The press secretary then claimed the Biden administration is not planning to implement another economic lockdown and the schools won’t be closed either.
White House on potential lockdowns: 'We are not going back' or 'turning back the clock': White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the country was not headed toward more lockdowns despite a surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus. https://t.co/Zht17dNdCS pic.twitter.com/sOFSHni9Aj
— USA News (@1USNews) August 6, 2021
Psaki continued and stated that the Biden administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is good; she emphasized that they are not going to turn the clock back to how it was last year, as lockdowns will not be reimposed.
Last week, the surging cases of COVID-19 brought about by the delta variant frustrated officials at the White House. Some were also questioning whether Biden declared freedom from the virus as a premature move.
It can be noted that the arrival of the highly transmittable delta variant in the country is not surprising. The strain has been going on in India, as well as the United Kingdom, and has caused hundreds of thousands of cases and deaths. Then, when the new variant arrived in the United States, people who were unvaccinated were compromised.
Current number of daily cases recorded is 10x higher compared to last month
Meanwhile, recent data shows that there were 100,000 recorded infections daily in the country, a number is ten times higher than the ones recorded last month. Yet, Biden and his administration maintain that these numbers are nothing to be concerned of, claiming they are taking a “highly aggressive” move in forcing people to get the vaccine.
Psaki also claimed that the Biden administration is preparing like Scouts in the fight against the pandemic. Meanwhile, Amazon is among the first to declared to their employees that in person work will be temporarily suspended until January 2022.
The move is more likely to be followed by other companies as well. If it happens, metropolitan centers will persistently be deprived of foot traffic and commuters. However, the statement made by the administration is a big relief for Americans, after the country went through lockdown for close to one year.
The fast-spreading delta variant won't force the U.S. into another lockdown, Jean-Pierre says pic.twitter.com/movTVbl7ws
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) July 31, 2021
Meanwhile, Kariine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s principal deputy press secretary, mentioned in the past week they will continue to listen to experts when it comes to whether they will implement future lockdowns or closures of schools. Jean-Pierre also added that the current situation is about health and saving lives, not politics.
