What’s in the Biden-Harris COVID-19 Plan?
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In the United States, 241,070 people have died due to COVID-19. As part of his transition into the U.S. presidency, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have unveiled a seven-point plan to beat COVID-19. Here is everything in the Biden-Harris COVID-19 plan.
Accessible, reliable, and free testing
The Biden-Harris administration’s COVID-19 plan aims to double the number of drive-through testing sites and invest in advanced instant and at-home tests. A pandemic testing board will be set up to produce and distribute tens of millions of tests. The Biden-Harris Plan will also establish a U.S. public health job corps. This corps will also, via trusted local organizations, provide COVID-19 protection, support, and contact tracing to at least 100,000 Americans in high-risk communities.
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
The Biden administration plans to supply states, cities, tribes, and territories with PPE by using the Defense Production Act to increase the production of masks, face shields, and other PPE. The plan includes immediately building toward a flexible, American-sourced, and American-manufactured capability to ensure that Americans are not dependent on other countries in a crisis.
COVID-19 information and resources
The Biden-Harris COVID-19 plan states that the administration will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reshape social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines relative to the degree of viral spread in a community. The guidelines will include when to open or close certain businesses, schools, and other spaces.
Small businesses will receive a “restart package” to cover the costs of operating safely, including items such as plexiglass barriers and PPE. Renewable funds for state and local governments will be established to help prevent budget shortfalls. Additionally, the plan urges Congress to pass an emergency package to ensure that schools have the additional resources needed to survive the continued shift to online or hybrid learning models.
Effective, accessible distribution of treatments
The Biden-Harris administration plans to invest $25 billion in a vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan that guarantees free vaccine access to every American without any price gouging. The Biden-Harris administration’s COVID-19 distribution plan states that scientists will be in charge of all COVID-19 safety decisions. Clinical data for any FDA-approved vaccine will be available to the public, as will a Congress-reviewed report of the vaccine.
Protections for high-risk Americans
Vice President-elect Harris has proposed a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force. This force will provide COVID-19 recommendations and oversight based on racial disparities in the nation’s public health and economic responses.
At the end of the COVID-19 crisis, this task force will transition to a permanent infectious disease racial disparities task force. For contact tracing, a nationwide pandemic dashboard will be created so Americans can gauge COVID-19 transmission in their communities in real-time.
Rebuilding and expanding defenses to pandemic threats
The Biden administration plans to restore the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, an Obama-Biden administration creation that the Trump administration disbanded. The Biden-Harris plan also seeks to immediately restore America’s relationship with the World Health Organization to coordinate a global response during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris plan will relaunch and strengthen the U.S. Agency for International Development’s pathogen-tracking program called PREDICT. The Biden-Harris COVID-19 plan will also expand the number of CDC-deployed disease detectives and rebuild the CDC office in Beijing.
National mask mandates
Health experts agree that face masks limit the spread of COVID-19. The Biden-Harris COVID-19 plan encourages every American to wear a mask when they are around people outside their household. The Biden administration plans to require governors and local authorities to make mask use mandatory in their states.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden-Harris administration plans to ensure that Americans who suffer from long-term COVID-19 effects won’t face higher health insurance premiums or coverage denial due to pre-existing conditions. Additionally, the administration will work to lower health care costs and expand access to affordable health care through a Medicare-like public option.
As of this afternoon, in the United States, more than approximately 10,408,800 people have been infected with COVID-19. The Biden-Harris COVID-19 plan aims to keep this ever-growing number as low as possible.