Coronavirus

Subterms

    More stories

    • 188 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Joe Biden vows to 'spare no effort' in tackling Covid as US sees record cases

      by

      [embedded content]
      Joe Biden vowed on Monday to spare no effort in tackling the coronavirus pandemic as soon as he enters the White House and warned the US is “facing a very dark winter”.
      Speaking in a televised address to the nation – little more than 48 hours after he was announced the winner of the presidential election – the Democrat said he was ready to get to work, laying out plans as the pandemic on Monday was approaching 10m cases.
      The US has experienced record new infections in recent days, a figure expected to significantly worsen before the former vice-president’s inauguration on 20 January. According to Johns Hopkins university, as of Sunday the coronavirus had killed 237,570 people in the US and had infected more than 9.9 million.
      While he welcomed Pfizer’s announcement earlier in the day that it has found a vaccine that it believes is 90% effective, he warned America could lose 200,000 more lives in the next few months before a vaccine becomes available.
      “I will spare no effort to turn this pandemic around once we’re sworn in on 20 January,” he said, speaking to the camera from his home town of Wilmington, Delaware.
      “Get our kids back to school safely, our businesses growing and our economy running at full speed again. And get an approved vaccine manufactured and distributed as quickly as possible to as many Americans as possible free of charge. We’ll follow the science.”
      But he warned that the challenge ahead was “immense and growing”. “Although we are not in office yet, I’m just laying out what we expect to do and hope can be done, some of it, between now and the time we’re sworn in.”
      He added: “There’s a need for bold action to fight this pandemic. We’re still facing a very dark winter.”
      Citing statistics that show the US topped 120,000 new cases on several consecutive days last week and rising infection rates, hospitalisations and deaths, he said: “This crisis claims nearly 1,000 American lives a day. Nearly 240,000 deaths so far. The projections still indicate we could lose 200,000 more lives in the coming months before a vaccine can be made widely available.”
      Masks
      On mask-wearing, Biden said: “Please, I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself, do it for your neighbour. A mask is not a political statement, but it is a good way to start pulling the country together.”
      Kamala Harris, the vice-president-elect, was also present but did not speak.
      The announcement came after Biden’s transition team unveiled a coronavirus advisory board of 13 public health experts. The taskforce will be led by three co-chairs: the former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, the ex-food and drug administration commissioner David Kessler and Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale.
      Other experts on the taskforce include Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama health adviser and one of the creators of the Affordable Care Act, and Rick Bright, a former top vaccine official from the Trump administration and a whistleblower.
      The advisory board, he said, would create a “blueprint” to be put in place as soon as the Biden administration is sworn into office. “This group will advise on detailed plans, build on a bedrock of science and … keep compassion, empathy and care for every American at its core.” More

    • 188 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Joe Biden: US still facing 'very dark winter' despite promising coronavirus vaccine news – video

      by

      President-elect Joe Biden said the months ahead would still be very difficult for the United States, despite the encouraging news about Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
      Biden said it would be ‘many months’ before the vaccine was widely available, warning that another 200,000 Americans could die of coronavirus in the coming months.
      Biden also spoke about his coronavirus taskforce and urged Americans to wear face masks to limit the spread of the virus
      Biden gets to work as president-elect while Trump refuses to concede
      US coronavirus cases near 10m as Ben Carson tests positive More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Joe Biden's coronavirus taskforce to meet as Trump urged to cooperate

      by

      Joe Biden will convene a coronavirus taskforce on Monday to confront one of the biggest problems vexing the US, as the president-elect and his running mate, Kamala Harris, move ahead with their transition process.On Sunday night, Biden and Harris released their first public schedule as “president-elect” and “vice-president-elect”.Biden is due to meet with a 12-member advisory board led by former the surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, and the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, David Kessler, to examine how best to tame a pandemic that has killed more than 237,000 Americans.He will speak in Wilmington, Delaware, about his plans for tackling the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding the economy later in the day.Biden has spent much of the campaign criticising Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis and has vowed to listen to scientists to guide his own approach.There are questions over whether Trump, who has not publicly recognised Biden’s victory and has falsely claimed the election was stolen, will impede Democrats as they try to establish a government.The transition cannot shift into high gear until the US General Services Administration, which oversees federal property, certifies the winner.Emily Murphy, the Trump appointee who runs the agency, has not given the go-ahead for the transition to begin, and on Sunday night a GSA spokeswoman gave no timetable for the decision.Until then, the GSA can continue providing Biden’s team with offices, computers and background checks for security clearances, but they cannot yet enter federal agencies or access federal funds set aside for the transition.The Biden campaign on Sunday pressed the agency to move ahead.“America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signalling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power,” the campaign said in a statement.There is little precedent in the modern era of a president erecting hurdles for his successor. The stakes are especially high this year because Biden will take office amid a raging pandemic, which will require a comprehensive government response.The advisory board of the nonpartisan Center for Presidential Transition also urged the Trump administration to “immediately begin the post-election transition process and the Biden team to take full advantage of the resources available under the Presidential Transition Act”.Biden’s taskforce will be responsible for executing the promises he made on the campaign trail for tackling Covid-19, which include doubling the number of drive-through testing sites, establishing a US public health job corps to mobilise 100,000 Americans on contact tracing; and ramping up production of masks, face shields and other PPE equipment.Trump has no public events scheduled for Monday, and he has not spoken in public since Thursday. Vice-president Mike Pence is due to meet with the White House coronavirus taskforce on Monday for the first time since 20 October.As part of a public campaign to question the election results, he is planning to hold rallies to build support for his fight over the outcome, Trump’s campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, said.The US recorded more than 127,399 cases on Saturday, bringing the total recorded to nearly 9.9m, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 1,000 deaths were recorded, bring the national toll close to 237,000. America has reported over 100,000 infections five times in the past week, according to a Reuters analysis, which found that the latest seven-day average in the US is more than the combined average for India and France, two of the hardest hit countries overseas.Biden’s transition effort now has a website, BuildBackBetter.com, and a Twitter account, @Transition46. Biden’s team is also expected to move forward with efforts to choose the officials who will serve with him in his administration. He has not offered a timeline for cabinet picks, but he and Harris have pledged that his administration leaders will reflect the country, with representation of women and people of colour.He is also reportedly planning a series of urgent orders that would roll back some of Trump’s agenda, in some cases fulfilling his campaign promises. That includes repealing the travel ban against Muslim-majority countries (one of Trump’s first actions); rejoining the international climate accord; rejoining the World Health Organization; taking action to protect “Dreamers” from deportation; revoking “the global gag rule”, which blocks the US government from funding groups that conduct abortions or advocate abortion rights; and reestablishing Obama-era environmental regulations.But Trump has not yet acknowledged defeat and has launched an array of lawsuits to press claims of election fraud for which he has produced no evidence. State officials say they are not aware of any significant irregularities. Since the race was called, the president has been golfing and tweeting a steady stream of election misinformation that has forced Twitter to acknowledge his allegations are disputed and that mail-in voting is safe and secure.Murtaugh said Trump will hold a series of rallies to build support for the legal fights challenging the outcome, though he did not say when and where they would take place.Trump will seek to back up his as-yet-unsubstantiated accusations of voting fraud by highlighting obituaries of dead people the campaign said voted in the election, Murtaugh said.Trump also announced teams to pursue recounts in several states. Experts said that effort, like his lawsuits, are unlikely to meet with success.“The chances of a recount flipping tens of thousands of votes across multiple states in his favour are outside anything we have seen in American history,” William Antholis, the director of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center thinktank, wrote in an essay on Sunday.Reuters contributed to this report More

    • 175 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      The Guardian view on Joe Biden: cometh the hour, cometh the man | Editorial

      by

      “This is the time to heal in America”. President-elect Joe Biden’s words were directed at a nation suffering after four years of Donald Trump’s dishonesty and fear-mongering. Mr Biden understands Trumpism is arsenic in the water supply of American political culture. It has sloshed around the country, flowing most freely wherever Republicans were in power. Even after the president had clearly lost the popular vote, his Republican enablers embraced his claims about a stolen election rather than denouncing them.Yet Mr Biden wants America to come together not come apart. There is nothing to gain from trading incivilities with Republican opponents. He seeks to bridge divides. Under Mr Trump, the US has become more polarised between educated and less-educated voters; whites and people of colour; haves and have-nots; and urban and rural areas. Mr Biden is right: politics can’t be conducted in a furnace, it’s time to “lower the temperature”.In his words Americans must “see each other again [and] listen to each other again”. There’s too much at stake to do otherwise. The US faces a triple crisis: a pandemic that is costing hundreds of lives daily; an economic depression with skyrocketing long-term unemployment; and a politics where consensus is sorely lacking but badly needed. These are interrelated emergencies. Covid cannot be solved without a faith in facts, which is why Mr Biden will set up an expert pandemic taskforce ahead of naming his cabinet. His emphasis on science is in contrast to widespread Republican disdain for evidence.The country’s economy can only be revived by federal spending to keep companies and households afloat while upscaling the test-and-trace regime. Thanks to the US’s skewed electoral system Republicans may find themselves in a position to frustrate a president Biden. Some want to bite the hand of friendship that he has extended. This would be a bad idea. Republicans who shrank the government to the size “it can be drowned in the bathtub” can see when you do so people die. Those who pushed profit-driven opinion ahead of scientific fact ought to realise that conservative ideology won’t cure coronavirus.Without a vaccine, what is needed is money from Congress and politicians willing to persuade people to change their behaviour. Super-spreading lies about the economy and the virus has deadly consequences. A public reared in an age of government distrust led to a revolt against mask-wearing and social distancing. Mr Biden is asking Republicans to stop peddling fact-free assertions about liberties being lost for the sake of public health. They should listen to him.The trained cynicism about government needs to be unwound. Mr Biden’s argument is that if Americans cannot share a common narrative about how to handle Covid then the government cannot produce a successful solution. He is right. Republicans must break Mr Trump’s spell over their party. Left unchecked the Grand Old Party risks reducing itself to a cult beholden to an ageing leader’s bizarre conspiracy theories.The American dream does not exist for many people. How to manage this pain is central to Mr Biden’s healing touch. The president-elect seems ready to offer compassion and help to those whose suffering Mr Trump dismissed as fraudulent. Mr Biden wants Americans to feel empowered by believing in something larger than themselves. He would like elected leaders to take, rather than abdicate, responsibility for public duties. If the 2020 election was a referendum on the Trump years, the pandemic provides a test of conservative principles. Mr Biden aims to restore trust in government, and in the US itself. Republicans should do their bit to help. More

    • 238 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden will put the US back on the world stage, and Britain must stand with him | Keir Starmer

      by

      Britain’s special relationship with the US was forged on the battlefields of Europe. At this year’s Remembrance Sunday, we remembered how we came together, not just as two nations with shared interests, but as friends, brothers and sisters to liberate Europe, defend freedom and defeat fascism.Like any close relationship, we’ve had our disagreements, tensions and arguments. But the values we fought for 75 years ago – liberty, cooperation, democracy and the rule of law – remain as important today as they did then. The victory of President-elect Biden presents a chance to reset that partnership and to tackle the new challenges the world faces today.The eyes of the world have been on the US in recent days – to see which direction its people would choose. In electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the American people have voted for a better, more optimistic future: for unity over division, hope over fear and integrity over dishonesty.The new president has promised to restore the US’s alliances and fill the void in global leadership. Britain should welcome this. The two biggest issues facing us all – defeating coronavirus and tackling the climate crisis – require a joined-up, global effort that has been sorely lacking in recent years.This election also had stark lessons for those of us who want to see progressive values triumph over the forces of division and despair. The Democrats’ path to victory was paved by a broad coalition, including many of the states and communities that four years ago turned away from them.To win back the trust of voters takes time. It takes political leaders who listen, learn and renew. Biden spoke to the soul of the nation, with a focus on who people are and what they value: family, community and security. One election victory does not mean that work is now finished for the Democrats; for us in the Labour party, it is only just beginning.It is crucial that the British government seizes this moment. Britain is forging a new path for its future outside the European Union. I believe we can succeed and thrive, but to do so we must be a part of the change that is coming. That requires hard work and leadership.It means working with other countries to ensure the global success and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. It means building a more resilient, focused and effective response to the security threats posed by our adversaries. It means leading the global response to tackling climate breakdown, starting with next year’s Cop26 climate summit.I want us to be striking the best possible trade deals for Britain, which help to create jobs, grow our industries and protect our standards. That must start with us getting a trade agreement with the European Union by the end of the year, as was promised. It also means being a country that abides by the rule of the law.We will soon have a president in the Oval Office who has been a passionate advocate for the preservation of the Good Friday agreement. He, like governments across the world, will take a dim view if our prime minister ploughs ahead with proposals to undermine that agreement. If the government is serious about a reset in its relationship with the US, then it should take an early first step and drop these proposals.Equally, when our allies are wrong, Britain should be prepared to speak out and say so. We are at our best when the world knows we have the courage of our convictions and a clear moral purpose. That we are standing up for our beliefs and our shared values. In recent years, this has been absent. For the United States of America and for Britain, this is the time to return to the world stage. This is the time for us to lead.• Keir Starmer is leader of the Labour party and MP for Holborn and St Pancras More

    • 175 Shares179 Views

      in US Politics

      'Very worst of the pandemic' ahead in US with no apparent strategy, experts say

      by

      A lame-duck presidency and political gridlock after a bitterly fought election are set to worsen the US’s coronavirus crisis just as the pandemic enters its deadliest phase, according to health experts.With two months to go before a presidential handover from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, the federal government’s strategy for containing the virus has experts worried.Outside of embracing conspiracy theories, Trump administration officials appear to have pinned their hopes on improved testing and eventual vaccine approval.“The strategy, if you can summarize in one word, is hope,” said Dr Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory School of Medicine and Grady Health System in Georgia. “And hope is not a strategy.”And as Covid-19 cases surge, the economic recovery falters and coronavirus government aid runs out, the lack of a coordinated response to the pandemic during the interregnum will have serious consequences, according to experts.“We are heading into the very worst of the pandemic right now,” said Dr Megan Ranney, an emergency room doctor at Brown University who has lobbied to protect healthcare workers during the pandemic. “The degree of spread of this infection and its toll on our country is going to be, to a large extent, determined by what happens in the next two months.”The swell of autumn Covid-19 cases is already proving to be the most intense period for new infections of the entire pandemic. By various counts, the US broke a world record for new cases – 100,000 in a day – this week. Those new infections will portend new hospitalizations, and eventually deaths. Already, more than 230,000 Americans have died from Covid-19.“If we don’t do anything to stop it, we are in the trajectory going straight up,” said Del Rio.Del Rio predicted the United States could see 200,000 cases a day by Thanksgiving, if Americans do not adopt social distancing and universal masking immediately.There are other grim signs. The nursing home industry, which cares for America’s most medically fragile residents, has warned that Covid-19 cases among the elderly and infirm are growing because of intense spread in surrounding communities.“It is incredibly frustrating,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association, an industry group for private nursing homes. “If everybody would wear a mask and social distance to reduce the level of Covid in the community, we know we would dramatically reduce these rates in long-term care facilities.”Nursing homes house less than 1% of the population, but represent more than 40% of deaths.Hospital administrators are scaling back non-urgent, but medically necessary, surgeries which serve as one of their largest sources of profit. State governments in the upper midwest are setting up field hospitals, but staffing will be difficult with increased spread and worker burnout. More

    • 188 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      A dysfunctional America helps China – but hurts Australia and our region | Natasha Kassam

      by

      As the US presidential election rolls into its fourth day of counting, Chinese leaders are not necessarily joining much of the world in frantically hitting refresh for updated vote tallies.
      As America edges towards a Biden victory in painful slow motion, there is no sense of urgency in Beijing, which benefits from the prolonged uncertainty.
      Chinese leaders – and many of its citizens – believe the United States is in terminal decline and that President Donald Trump has hastened the inevitable. The troubling story of decay in America paints a different picture in China from that in the rest of the world: the authoritarian model of politics and economics is just as good, if not better, than the liberal democratic model of the “west”.
      The coronavirus pandemic had already started the toppling dominos. China recovered from its disastrous response, wielding state capacity like an authoritarian sword to contain Covid-19. By contrast, the US has surrendered to the pandemic, tragically with a death toll 60 times that of China. The successes of democratic smaller nations, from Australia to Taiwan, barely register in Beijing.
      The four-day election count (so far) and divided polity are seen as further evidence of the wounds in US democracy. So too the increasingly erratic claims made by Trump that undermine US democratic institutions. These are chalked up as wins in Beijing’s column.
      More wins, from a Chinese perspective, are coming, and many in Australia’s immediate region. Beijing has threatened over $5bn exports from Australia. The issue has gained less traction than usual as eyes are glued to the circus that US politics has paraded for four years.
      China has also been extending olive branches across south-east Asia, providing technical assistance and protective equipment in the pandemic and attempting to repair the reputational hit that Covid-19 caused. Many have made deals with China guaranteeing preferential access if a Chinese vaccine candidate is approved.
      This vacuum was left by the US. When it comes to global public health, America has literally left the building. Ensnared in its own pandemic crisis, the world’s largest economy abandoned the World Health Organization. US allies are among the countries that China has promised priority access to vaccines, including the Philippines and Thailand.
      With the US missing in action, Australia has had to go it alone. Canberra has looked to counter China’s efforts, promising more than $500m in “vaccine diplomacy” across the region.
      China may struggle to find these opportunities if Biden is inaugurated. A globalist at heart, he has promised to reposition the US on the international stage and re-join the WHO. Australia should embrace that prospect.
      But for Beijing, the outcome of the US presidential election changes few of its policy settings. The Trump administration’s tough stance towards China is a rare glimpse of unity in a divided country.
      A potential Biden administration would continue to challenge China in most fields, including trade and technology. And any instinct by a potential president Biden to nominate Obama-era officials would need to get past the inevitable China-hawk test if the Republican-majority Senate remains.
      Tough China policy is also good politics in the US – as it is in Australia. Both Australian and American publics have soured on China as more evidence of China’s aggression and human rights abuses have come to light.
      One difference may be that a Biden administration would be better coordinated with partners and allies on China policy. Under Trump, US policy oscillated from praising Xi Jinping to attempting regime change. A stable and consultative approach would be music to Australia’s proverbial ears, as it faces the brunt of China’s economic coercion with little backup or support. Biden could also be convinced to revive the ailing World Trade Organization, though US concerns pre-dated Trump.
      Still, who wins the US election matters much more to Australia than China.
      A weaker United States, led by a president elected in a messy and marginal victory, would only make China more confident. And a new administration, distracted by domestic turmoil, may lack the bandwidth to wake up to the urgent support needed in Australia, and the broader region. A divided America may translate into an isolated Australia. And this, in turn, would embolden China.
      • Natasha Kassam is a research fellow at the Lowy Institute More