President-elect Joe Biden on Monday emphasized his warning that the United States would face a “very dark winter” as it fought the most brutal stretch of the coronavirus pandemic — countering promising vaccine developments with urgent pleas for Americans to cover their faces and slow the soaring rate of infection.
Flanked by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Del., Biden made early reference to the “positive news” that drugmaker Pfizer had found its vaccine candidate to be more than 90 percent effective. But he said the shot, if approved, “will not be widely available for many months yet to come” and the “challenge before us right now is still immense and growing.”
“There’s a need for bold action to fight this pandemic. We’re still facing a very dark winter,” Biden said, reprising a line he debuted at the final general election debate that was criticized by President Donald Trump’s campaign as unduly pessimistic. But Biden made no effort Monday to sugarcoat the deadly nature of the disease, and said hundreds of thousands of lives could be lost to Covid-19 in the months before a vaccine becomes widely available.
The sobering 10-minute speech offered the best glimpse yet at how Biden — newly addressing Americans as their next commander in chief — will guide the country through a historic health crisis poised to hit its peak as he prepares to assume office. He struck a tone resembling that of a wartime president, speaking of the pandemic’s threat in dire terms and setting public expectations for a drawn-out, monthslong campaign to crush the outbreak in the U.S.
His chief call to action was a forceful argument in favor of mask-wearing. The personal mitigation measure has been mocked time and again by Trump, but Biden deemed it Monday to be the “most potent weapon against the virus.” The goal of mask-wearing, he said, “is not to make your life less comfortable or to take something away from you. It’s to give something back to all of us: A normal life.”
Biden acknowledged that wearing a mask “may seem like a small act,” but “throughout the history of our nation, we have seen over and over how small acts add up to enormous achievements.”
Americans living through the pandemic are now “called to do the same thing that generations of proud Americans have done in the face of a crisis throughout our history,” he said. “Rise above our differences to defend the strength and vitality of our nation.”
