President Joe Biden directly addressed “frustration and fatigue” as the country approaches its third year of battling the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden called the omicron variant “the new enemy” but not a “cause for panic” given the tools the country has to combat the pandemic.
“All I know is that after almost two years of physical, emotional, and psychological weight of this pandemic, and the impact it’s had on everyone — for many of us, it’s been too much to bear,” the president said during a press conference Wednesday. “We’re in a very different place now. We have the tools, vaccines, boosters, mass test pills, to save lives and keep businesses and schools open.”
Biden touted the progress his administration has made on vaccinations, including fully vaccinating 75% of adults and reducing the number of unvaccinated Americans to just 35 million as of Wednesday.
On testing, he conceded the federal government should have “done more testing earlier” but claimed to be “doing more now,” detailing plans to ship hundreds of millions of tests across the country. Furthermore, Biden pledged not to close schools and businesses as a mitigation strategy.
“Some people may call what’s happening now a new normal. I call it a job not yet finished. It will get better. We’re moving toward a time when COVID-19 won’t disrupt our daily lives, or COVID-19 won’t be a crisis,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Biden’s entire press conference below.
