President Joe Biden urged all Americans on Monday to wear their masks more and get vaccination boosters to help fight the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“Please wear your mask when you’re indoors when you’re in public settings around other people,” Biden said during remarks at the White House with Dr. Anthony Fauci, his coronavirus pandemic advisor.
The president spoke at the podium without a mask after meeting with federal health officials at the White House to address the emerging variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa.
“I encourage everyone to wear a mask when they’re indoors in a crowded circumstance like we are right now unless you’re eating or speaking in a microphone,” Biden said to reporters in the room.
The president acknowledged that his travel ban would not stop the virus from coming into the United States
“Sooner or later, we are going to see cases of the Omicron variant here in the U.S.,” he said, adding, “this variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”
The president said that lockdowns and shutdowns of businesses were off the table “for now.”
“[I]f people are vaccinated and wearing their masks there’s no need for a lockdown,” he said.
Biden spoke of what he wanted to see as a “new normal” to fight the variants of the virus.
“I expect the new normal is everybody getting vaccinated and the booster shot so we reduce the number of people who aren’t protected to such a low degree that we’re not seeing the spread of these viruses,” he said.
Biden again urged Americans to get fully vaccinated and also get their vaccine booster shots, noting that “fully vaccinated” families can celebrate the holidays “much more safely”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.