Biden to improve US pandemic response

 

Soon after taking office on Jan. 20, President-Elect Joe Biden plans to enact executive actions that will significantly change US policy in several areas, including the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Notably, these executive actions won’t require Congress to approve new legislation. Instead, Biden can change these policies on his own.

Biden said he will sign an executive order that will require people to wear masks inside federal buildings and while traveling between states on plains, trains, and buses. The mandate’s goal is to limit the spread of the air-born coronavirus.

The Trump administration rejected recommendations from US health experts to enact mask requirements for people using mass transportation.

Biden will also ask Americans to wear masks throughout his first 100 days in office.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the usefulness of masks in limiting the spread of the coronavirus. 

A Cornell University study found that Trump was the single largest source of coronavirus misinformation in the world. 

Biden has promised that his administration’s response to coronavirus will be guided by science and advice from public health experts.

World Health Organization membership 

The Trump Administration officially moved in early July to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency that works to combat disease and improve the health of people around the world.

Trump has criticized the WHO for having a pro-China bias, and for being too slow to respond to the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.

Public health experts and Democrats criticized Trump’s decision to leave the WHO, which they said would harm efforts to fight the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump Administration submitted its withdrawal notification to the United Nations secretary-general in early July. But the withdrawal requires one-year advance notice, which means it would take effect July 6, 2021.

Then-presidential-candidate Joe Biden responded to the Trump Administration’s planned withdrawal by tweeting July 7 that he would move to rejoin the WHO on his first day as president.

“Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “On my first day as President, I will rejoin the @WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage.”

Jon Oliver discussed the World Health Organization, and the potential negative consequences of Trump’s decision to withdraw from the international body, on his program LastWeekTonight. 

 

ProPublica reported the Trump Administration directed US diplomats and health officials to limit their engagement with the WHO. 

NPR reported the Trump Administration's WHO policies have damaged collaboration between the US and WHO on the coronavirus pandemic and other global health issues.