The president of the United States, Joe Biden, plans to announce this Thursday his plan to combat the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which will include the public and private sectors, while the country experiences a new spike in infections.
The White House reported that the president “will establish a six-point strategy working in the public and private sectors.” Addressing the August jobs report last Friday, Biden said that “There is no question that the Delta variant is the reason why today’s jobs report is not stronger.”, and at that time he announced that he would lay out the next steps in the following weeks.
“We will need to combat the Delta variant to address some of those fears and concerns.”, advanced at that time.
The presidential strategy includes a request to state and local governments to consider the use of federal funds to extend unemployment benefits in the worst affected areas. “As we continue to fight against the Delta variant, the Rescue Plan that we approved continues to support families, businesses and communities,” Biden said in that regard.
Biden’s announcements will come as the United States has counted more than 40 million cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, although many experts consider the true numbers to be higher. Of the total infections, more than four million were only reported in the last four weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
This increase, driven by the more contagious Delta variant, spread to hospitals and infections between children, which is of particular concern, as many are returning to classrooms.
In this context, last week, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) network, Rochelle Walensky, advised unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the last weekend’s vacation, so as not to spread the cases.
Currently, 62 percent of Americans are vaccinated against the coronavirus, with 53 percent with the complete schedule and 9 percent with a single dose, according to the Our World in Data database.
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