Joe Biden was attacked from all sides of the political spectrum on social media yesterday after a 60 Minutes interview in which he declared an end to the coronavirus pandemic — even while emergency government powers and declarations remain in effect.
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over,” said President Biden during his interview.
Progressives attacked Biden for declaring an end to the pandemic prematurely, while conservatives and libertarians laid into him for allowing emergency powers to remain in effect while acknowledging coronavirus has subsided.
“The pandemic isn’t over,” declared former Ohio state senator and Democrat congressional candidate Nina Turner.
“You don’t just declare a pandemic over,” echoed Democrat state representative Attica Scott.
MSNBC pundit Mehdi Hasan complained that attendees at the event Biden was speaking at were not wearing masks because Democrat leaders like Biden have stopped pressuring them to do so.
“One of the (many) reasons they’re not wearing masks is because people like Biden keep (falsely) telling them the pandemic is over,” said Hasan.
Harvard epidemiologist Eric Ding called COVID deaths a “weekly 9/11.”
“Heck no. With all due respect, @JoeBiden — you’re wrong. Pandemic is not over. Almost 3,000 Americans are dying from #COVID19 every single week. A weekly 9/11 is a very big deal. Don’t even get me started on #LongCOVID—wreaking havoc on millions more.”
Conservatives, meanwhile, drew attention to the fact that government mandates and emergency powers remain in effect even while the President declares the pandemic over.
“With the pandemic over, now it’s time to end all vaccine mandates,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
“If “the pandemic is over” as Biden says, then all of the President’s emergency powers predicated on a pandemic, all COVID vax mandates, the emergency powers of every governor, Emergency Use Authorizations, and the PREP act should all be voided tomorrow,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
“If the pandemic is over we can end universal mail-in voting immediately,” said Jack Posobiec. “Thanks Joe Biden!”
“Biden now says “the pandemic is over” as he’s kicking tens of thousands of healthy soldiers out of the military with his COVID vaccine mandate,” said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “These soldiers should be reinstated immediately.”
Following Biden’s comments on 60 Minutes, the White House rushed to clarify that official COVID-19 policies, including the official Public Health Emergency which has been in effect since January 2020, remain in effect.