MIAMI — President Joe Biden on Thursday is expected to lay out a six-pronged strategy to combat emerging COVID-19 variants and increase vaccinations.
At the same time, pressure is building to offer further guidance for schools, with children now representing a quarter of all new COVID cases nationwide.
President Biden is set to lay out six steps to stop the spread, including increasing vaccinations, better protecting those who are vaccinated, keeping schools safely open, increasing testing and requiring masks, protecting the economic recovery, and improving care for those with COVID-19.
Biden’s push to increase vaccinations comes as hospitals continue to battle the overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases.
"The general message to the community is it's not too late to get vaccinated," said Dr. Sergio Segarra, chief medical officer of Baptist Hospital in Miami. “This is truly an pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Biden also wants to use public-private partnerships to get more Americans vaccinated, especially those under 40 who are lagging behind in vaccinations.
“It is the unvaccinated that have come in overwhelming numbers," said Dr. Sergarra. "What we do know is that the vaccine will help lower that level.”