Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus. The Biden Administration will confront a raging pandemic, with little indication of Trump Administration pandemic action in its remaining days. On Friday, November 13, President-Elect Biden made remarks about coronavirus minutes after President Trump broke his post-election silence to discuss COVID vaccines and therapeutics. As reported in the New York Times, President-Elect Biden said:
“I will not be president until next year,” Mr. Biden said. “The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar, it is accelerating right now. Urgent action is needed today, now, by the current administration — starting with an acknowledgment of how serious the current situation is.”
And the pandemic is dire indeed. In its updates on the pandemic, the New York Times reported:
Governors and public health officials across the United States are pleading with Americans to change their behavior and prepare for a long winter as the country shatters record after record on coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
Both records fell yet again Friday, as more than 181,100 new cases were reported nationwide. It was only eight days ago that the U.S. reported its first 100,000-case day. Now the seven-day average of new daily cases is more than 140,000.
Sixteen states also set single-day case records on Friday, and 30 states added more cases in the last week than in any other seven-day period.
In Live Updates on the pandemic, Washington Post reporters describe a nation at a breaking point:
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said the state is at a “breaking point” and reinstated the country’s most restrictive statewide measures since the fall surge began, while Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) announced a two-week statewide “freeze” on Friday, which included curbing gatherings ahead of Thanksgiving.
Other states are trying to avoid full-blown shutdowns by enacting almost every other kind of restriction, as the United States reported more than 177,000 new coronavirus cases, a record high for the third straight day.
In a Health Affairs blog, Terry Adirim addresses, What the New Administration Must Do on Day One to Tackle COVID-19.
Health policy experts expect the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be on the health care agenda for 2021, but ACA policy proposals may only be minor revisions that can be implemented by administrative action or agreed to by a divided Congress. Major ACA-related action may not be necessary if legal experts correctly read the Supreme Court justices during ACA oral arguments. Katie Keith captures the widely held sentiment about the Court in a Health Affairs blog, Supreme Court Arguments: Even If Mandate Falls, Rest of Affordable Care Act Looks Likely to Be Upheld.
Just days after the election and even before the Presidential race was called for President-Elect Biden, Politico reported that Biden and Democratic allies are rethinking their legislative agenda in the face of a possible Republican Senate (control of the Senate will not be determined until the Georgia Senate runoffs occur in January 2021).