WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is using his first prime time address to talk to the nation about progress in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and what’s ahead.
Tonight, he will direct states to make all American adults eligible to receive the vaccine no later than May 1, according to a senior administration official.
Biden will give his address from the Oval Office one year after lockdowns started at the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 and hours after the president signed his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package into law.
Follow along for the latest updates through the night.
‘America is coming back,’ Biden says
President Joe Biden mentioned one of the seldom talked-about casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic: the loss of faith in government.
“We lost faith in whether our government and our democracy can deliver on really hard things for the American people,” he said.
But, he said, the nation’s response to the deadly disease is proving something he has stressed over and over again to foreign and U.S. leaders.
“It’s never, ever a good bet to bet against the American people,” he said. “America is coming back.”
— Michael Collins
Biden pleads with Americans to ‘do their part’
President Joe Biden pleaded with Americans to do “their parts” and get vaccinated.
“I need you, the American people. I need you. I need every American to do their part. That’s not hyperbole. I need you. I need you to get vaccinated when it’s your turn and when you can find an opportunity,” Biden said.
He continued that if Americans do their parts, stay safe, and get vaccinated, there can be small Fourth of July celebrations “where we not only mark our independence as a nation, but we also begin to mark our independence from this virus.”
— Savannah Behrmann
Biden: ‘Stick with the rules’
President Joe Biden urged Americans to “stick with the rules” so the recovery doesn’t stall.
“We’ve made so much progress,” he said. “This is not the time to let up.”
Biden didn’t mention them, but several GOP governors have been lifting mask mandates against the advice of national health officials.
Biden said the nation has to stay vigilant. Conditions can change, which could require reinstating restrictions, he said.
— Maureen Groppe
Biden: Listen to Fauci
President Joe Biden urged Americans to listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“My message to you is this: Listen to Dr. Fauci,” Biden said, adding that he’s one of the “most distinguished and trusted voices in the world.”
“He’s assured us that vaccines are safe,” the president said. “I know they’re safe.
— Rebecca Morin
CDC to issue guidelines for post-vaccination
Biden said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue guidance in the coming weeks on what Americans can do once they’ve been fully vaccinated.
The new guidelines will “lessen the confusion, keep people safe and encourage more people to get vaccinated,” he said.
— Michael Collins
Vaccine eligibility to open to all by May
Biden announced that he is directing states to open vaccine eligibility to all adults by May 1.
Alaska became the first state to do so on its own on Tuesday.
The White House’s COVID19 task force determined that vaccinations of the prioritized populations should be far enough along by the end of April that restrictions can be lifted.
“That means you’ll be able to get in line beginning May 1,” Biden said.
He called that “much earlier than expected.”
Biden also said he will exceed his goal of administering 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days of office. That initial marker will be achieved on day 60, he said.
“No other country in the world has done this,” he said.
— Maureen Groppe
Biden denounces attacks on Asian Americans
Biden used his prime-time address to denounce what he called “vicious hate attacks” against Asian Americans.
Asian Americans have been “attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated” for the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China, Biden said.
“So many of them are fellow Americans, are on the frontlines of this pandemic trying to save lives – and still are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America,” he said. “It’s wrong. It’s un-American. And it must stop.”
— Michael Collins
Biden says Americans ‘owed nothing less than the truth’
Biden harkened back to the emphasis he put during his campaign on being straight with Americans.
He recalled asking a small business owner in Philadelphia what she needed most.
“I just want the truth. Just tell me the truth,” Biden said the woman told him.
The president told Americans listening: “You’re owed nothing less than the truth.”
And that truth, he said, is that the only way to get the economy back on track is to beat the coronavirus.
— Maureen Groppe
Biden displays card he carries with number of American deaths
President Joe Biden showed a card he carries around daily that lists the current number of American deaths.
There are “more deaths in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and 9/11 combined. They are husbands, wives, sons and daughters, grandparents, friends,” Biden said.
The virus has left more than 530,000 in the United States dead.
— Savannah Behrmann
Biden combines pain and healing
After talking about what everyone lost in the past year, Biden quickly pivoted to a hopeful message.
“In the loss, we saw how much there was to gain,” he said.
Finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do, he continued, and may be the “most American” thing we’ve done.
Quoting Ernest Hemingway, Biden combined pain and healing saying, so many are now strong in all the broken places.
— Maureen Groppe
Biden takes swipe at Trump
President Joe Biden began his address marking the one-year anniversary of the COVID shutdown by taking a veiled swipe at his predecessor, Donald Trump.
“A year ago, we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked,” Biden said in a prime time speech from the White House. “Denials for days, weeks, and months. That led to more deaths. More infections, more stress and more loneliness.”
Trump initially played down the seriousness of the virus, telling Americans it would go away and refusing to wear a face mask in public.
— Michael Collins
Biden begins his first prime time address to nation
President Joe Biden is deliveringhis first prime time speech as president.
Biden is expected to tout the content of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, which he signed into law hours earlier. The address will kick off an outreach campaign explaining the massive spending package.
The legislation includes direct payments of up to $1,400 for individuals, billions to help schools and colleges reopen, and funding for vaccine distribution.
Biden’s address comes exactly one year after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic. The virus has left more than 530,000 Americans dead.
— Savannah Behrmann
‘The virus will not have a chance’: Trump’s prime-time speech a year ago
Hours after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 crisis a pandemic on March 11, 2020, then-President Donald Trump delivered a nearly 10-minute speech from the Oval Office to announce the suspension of travel from Europe and allay mounting concerns about the spread of the deadly coronavirus across the country.
“Smart action today will prevent the spread of the virus tomorrow,” he said. “The virus will not have a chance against us. No nation is more prepared, or more resilient than the United States.”
A year later, President Joe Biden will deliver his first prime-time speech to address the nearly 530,000 American lives lost – the world’s highest COVID-19 death toll – to mark the grim anniversary of the day the U.S. shut down and announce a series of steps his administration is taking to get the pandemic under control.
Biden, who is expected to reflect on a devastating year that made millions of Americans jobless, shuttered schools and resulted in one of the largest economic crises in U.S. history, will contrast his efforts with those of his predecessor, who repeatedly insisted the virus would “go away.”
Trump, who once declared himself a “wartime president,” said he would use the “full power of the government” to combat the coronavirus crisis. But the Trump administration’s patchwork response relied heavily on states to procure their own the equipment and testing, describing the federal government as playing a “backup” role in the coronavirus crisis. Trump also politicized the use of face masks, which health experts say is critical to curbing the spread of COVID-19.
“We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship and unify together as one nation, and one family,” Trump said a year ago as the pandemic first gripped the country.
After months of sober messaging on when the U.S. might return to a sense of normalcy, Biden will instead focus on a more hopeful future in which Americans may be able to spend the Fourth of July in small groups. He’ll also announce a series of actions that the government will take in order to ramp up vaccine distribution,, including directing the Health and Human Services Department to order states to open up vaccine eligibility for all Americans no later than May 1.
— Courtney Subramanian
Biden to say small gatherings possible by July 4
In his address to the nation, President Joe Biden will announce new steps to speed up vaccinations while directing states to make all adults eligible for a COVID-19 shot no later than May 1.
If everyone does his or her part, Biden is expected to say, it’s likely that Americans will be able to gather in small groups to celebrate the Fourth of July, according to a senior administration official.
More:Biden to direct states to make all adults eligible for COVID vaccine by May 1, official says
The new initiatives Biden will announce include:
- Expanding the pool of those qualified to administer vaccines to include dentists, paramedics, veterinarians, physician assistants, medical students and others. A new website will make it easier for those qualified to volunteer.
- Creating by May 1 a federally supported website and a call center to help people make vaccinations appointments.
- Providing technical support to state-run websites for vaccinations.
- Deploying an additional more than 4,000 active duty troops to help run vaccination sites, bringing the total to more than 6,000.
- Increasing the number of community health centers and pharmacies where vaccines are available.
- Directing pharmacies to expand mobile operations to reach hard hit communities.
- More than doubling the number of federally run, mass vaccination centers.
- Helping schools implement regular COVID testing.
- Expanding the ability to test for COVID-19 variants.
— Maureen Groppe
Poll: Americans say worst of pandemic is over
A year after COVID-19 shut down the country, Americans are starting to feel that better days are ahead.
More than three-quarters (77%) say the worst of the pandemic is behind us, according to a new CNN poll. That’s a 26-point increase since late August, the previous high point of optimism in the past year. Just 19% say the worst is yet to come.
A quarter of Americans (25%) said the economy is starting to return from the downturn caused by the pandemic. Some 42% said the economy hasn’t started to recover, but conditions have stabilized; 30% said the economy is still in a downturn and conditions are worsening.
Biden gets high marks for his handling of the COVID outbreak, with 67% expressing a lot or some confidence in his ability to lead the country out of the pandemic. Yet just 43% said he has a clear plan for restoring the economy to the way it was before the pandemic; 55% said he doesn’t.
Coronavirus is still the most important issue for many Americans (30%), a significant drop since January, when 46% listed it as their top concern. Others top concerns in the latest poll were political divisions (25%), the economy (20%), racial injustice (11%), national security (9%) and something else (3%).
The telephone poll was conducted March 3-8 by SSRS, an independent research company, from among a sample of 1,009 respondents. The margin of effort is 3.6%.
— Michael Collins
Biden’s first prime time speech to balance hope with remaining COVID challenges
As President Joe Biden worked on what he wants to say in his first prime time address to the nation on Thursday night, top of mind was the fact that it’s the first opportunity many busy Americans will have to hear directly from him how the fight against the pandemic is going.
Biden is eager to talk about the direct payments and other help for families included in the massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill he signed into law Thursday.
And he can boast about what the administration has done to speed up production of vaccines and getting shots into arms.
But Biden, who campaigned on being straight with the public about the pandemic and other challenges, will also talk about the work ahead.
As he focused on getting the relief package through Congress, Biden also reviewed drafts of the speech, making changes “to ensure that he is striking the right tone,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in her afternoon news briefing.
“He plans to provide a clear outline of his approach, level with the American people about what is required of them, but also provide a sense of hope of what is possible,” she said.
Biden will also try to be specific about the help coming through the new legislation.
Psaki called the president an “anti-acronym advocate.”
“When he goes through speeches like this, he asks questions that I can imagine friends of mine and family members of mine might ask,” she said. “`What do you mean by that? and `When you say that, how will I get access to that?’”
— Maureen Groppe
White House creates web page highlighting COVID relief
If you’ve got questions about how President Joe Biden’s coronavirus-relief package might affect you, the White House has launched a web page that provides some of the answers.
The page, which can be found on the White House website, details different parts of Biden’s American Rescue Plan, including information on vaccine distribution, reopening schools and how Americans will receive their $1,400 direct checks.
There’s also a link where Americans can share a video to tell their story and explain how the COVID relief will help them.
The page is part of the White House’s extensive outreach campaign to explain the massive spending package to the public. The campaign will include road trips by the president, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the administration.
— Michael Collins
Biden goes on ‘Help is Here’ tour
In the days and weeks after Biden’s speech, he and other members of his administration will be fanning out across the country in what the White House is calling a “Help is Here” tour to explain the aid package.
Biden himself will go first to Pennsylvania, his home state as well as one that was critical to his 2020 victory.
After that Tuesday trip, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will go to Georgia on Friday.
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rapheal Warnock won Georgia’s two runoff Senate races in January, giving Democrats control of the Senate. That allowed them to pass the COVID relief bill without any support from Republicans.
“We keep bowing to Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told reporters after the Senate approved the bill Saturday.
During those Senate races, Biden – the first Democrat presidential candidate to carry Georgia since 1992 – told voters that they wouldn’t get additional stimulus checks unless they elected the Democrats.
“That’s a place where that message really resonated,” Psaki said. “It’s a place also close to his heart.”
Also traveling is first lady Jill Biden, who heads to New Jersey on Monday.
Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff will go to Nevada on Monday and Colorado on Tuesday. Emhoff will visit New Mexico on Wednesday.
Psaki said Biden will be visiting states dominated by Democrats and by Republicans, as well swing states, in the “blitz around the country” that will also include members of the Cabinet.
— Maureen Groppe
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