President Joe Biden is flat-out wrong if he thinks the pandemic is over. Although the trendlines are pointing downward, the United States still registers around 360 deaths per day from the coronavirus along with a seven-day average of 55,000 new infections, with 13,700 people currently hospitalized. Those numbers are a far cry from the earlier days of the pandemic, but that hardly means the threat is gone.
Biden’s pronouncement on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that “the pandemic is over” did a disservice to his own administration’s efforts to promote getting a third booster shot with a new vaccine deemed far more effective in combating the many coronavirus variants in circulation. Americans disinclined to take precautions will take Biden’s words as confirmation that the coronavirus isn’t such a big deal.
“We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over,” Biden said. “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.”
