United States Commemorates 650,000 COVID-19 Deaths

Remarks by President Biden at a Meeting with Business Leaders and CEOs on the COVID-⁠19 Respons

THE PRESIDENT: Folks, last week, I laid out a six-point plan for the fall to beat this pandemic, and it’s based on what science tells us. And vaccination is key to getting the pandemic under control and keeping — and keeping the economy strong.

And the first part of the plan is to vaccinate the unvaccinated. This is a — this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated — not anything else right now.

The Labor Department is working on an emergency rule that will require all employers with 100 or more workers to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated and regularly tested. And it’s going to take a little bit for them to put those requirements in place under the law.

We’re also going to require nearly all health workers — healthcare workers to get vaccinated. In addition to that, if we seek — if you seek care at a health facility, it seems to me you should be certain the people who are treating you are vaccinated. And that’s what we’re doing. Period.

And, in total, these vaccination requirements will cover over a hundred million workers — two-thirds of all workers — and it builds on previous requirements that — that we’ve installed so far.

And the vaccine requirements work, and more companies are instituting them. Even Fox News is requiring them. And I’m not being facetious when I say that. I’m — but it’s interesting that they’ve stepped forward and done that as well.

And the — and the group I’m meeting with here today is leading the way. We’ll hear from the CEOs and presidents of Disney; Microsoft; Walgreens; Columbia Sportswear; Kaiser Permanente; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — “CHOP” — which I’ve spent a lot of time; and Molly Moon’s Ice Cream.

And we’re joined by Josh Bolten, who — who is the — represents the Business Roundtable — which was a brainchild, I think, from years and years and years ago out of Wilmington, Delaware and the DuPont Company.

And — but it represents over 200 major businesses who champion vaccine mandates that will keep — and to make sure that we keep businesses open and workers safe.

And also, we have Bill Tate. Since instituting the requirement, the Louisiana State University went from — a requirement that there be vaccinations — the vaccination rate at Louisiana State University went from 63 to 81 percent of the students vaccinated in weeks.

And it’s about beating this virus, and it’s about saving lives. That’s what this is all about.

And here’s what Wall Street has had to say recently:

Goldman Sachs: Vaccinations will have a positive impact on employment. It means less spread of COVID, which will help people return to work.

And Moody’s: Vaccinations means fewer infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. And in turn, it means a stronger economy.

And I think everyone — thank everyone for joining me today, and I look forward to working together to beat this pandemic and keep our economy growing and going strong.

So, thank you all for being here. And thank you.

Q Sir, did General Milley do the right thing, sir? In your opinion, did General Milley do the right thing?

THE PRESIDENT: I have great confidence in General Milley.

1 in every 500 US residents have died of Covid-19

September 16, 2021

The United States has reached another grim milestone in its fight against the devastating Covid-19 pandemic: 1 in 500 Americans have died from coronavirus since the nation's first reported infection.

As of Tuesday night, 663,913 people in the US have died of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data. According to the US Census Bureau, the US population as of April 2020 was 331.4 million.

It's a sobering toll that comes as hospitals in the US are struggling to keep up with the volume of patients and more children are grappling with the virus. In hopes of managing the spread and preventing more unnecessary deaths, officials are implementing mandates for vaccinations in workplaces and masking in schools.

They're fighting against daily case, hospitalization and death rates that jumped after the early summer as the highly contagious Delta variant became dominant.

The country averaged more than 152,300 new Covid-19 cases each day over the past week as of Tuesday -- more than 13 times than what it was on June 22, when the average was at its lowest of 2021 (11,303 daily), according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The US averaged 1,805 new Covid-19 deaths each day over a week as of Tuesday -- significantly higher than the low average of the year (218) reached July 5, according to Johns Hopkins.

With only 54% of the population fully vaccinated, the rate of people initiating vaccinations each day (more than 341,900) is a 4% drop from last week and 28% drop from a month earlier, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Health experts have hailed vaccinations as the best source of protection against the virus, noting that the majority of people hospitalized with and killed by Covid-19 are unvaccinated. In Pennsylvania, from January 1 to September 7, 97% of the state's Covid-19 deaths were among unvaccinated people, Pennsylvania's acting secretary of health said Tuesday.

Another layer of strong protection, experts say, is masking.

The CDC recommends people -- even those fully vaccinated -- wear masks indoors in areas with substantial or high community transmission. More than 99% of the population lives in a county with one of those designations.

In Ohio, where children's hospitals are overwhelmed with Covid-19 and respiratory cases, Gov. Mike DeWine is encouraging schools to issue mask mandates since the state legislature has told him it would overturn any mandate he issued.

"Reasonable people may disagree about a lot, but we can all agree that we must keep our children in the classroom so they don't fall behind and so their parents can go to work and not take time off to watch their kids at home," DeWine said.

The combination of masks and vaccinations is the way to keep children in school, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Tuesday.

"If you surround the kids with vaccinated people and you have everybody wear a mask, you can get a situation where the children will be relatively safe in school," Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Coronavirus models foresee hospital admissions declining, CDC says

A CDC ensemble forecast that uses 10 models from other researchers predicts Covid hospital admissions to decrease during the next four weeks for the first time since the June 23 report.

The forecast predicts the US will see 5,000 to 15,300 new Covid-19 hospital admissions on October 11.

A total of 97,051 people are currently in hospitals with Covid-19, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Fight brewing over vaccine mandates

To manage the spread of the virus, many officials and experts have promoted vaccine mandates -- but others are opposing such measures.

New York issued an order in August requiring all health care workers be vaccinated against Covid-19 by September 27. But on Monday, 17 Catholic and Baptist medical professionals filed a federal complaint seeking to prevent the state from enforcing the mandate, saying they oppose getting the vaccine for religious reasons.

On Tuesday, a federal judge issued a restraining order temporarily suspending New York state from enforcing its vaccine mandate if health care workers claim a religious exemption.

Because the mandate does not require health care workers to receive their first dose of the vaccine until September 27, the judge's order states the temporary restraining order "does not, as a practical matter, go into effect until that date."

A hearing is scheduled for September 28.

After the ruling, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's press secretary, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said that the governor is considering all legal options.

"Governor Hochul is doing everything in her power to protect New Yorkers and combat the Delta variant by increasing vaccine rates across the State," Crampton-Hays said.

In Los Angeles, despite a mandate that all city employees be inoculated against the virus, nearly a quarter of the police force is seeking an exemption, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti's office. Those who are not vaccinated will be required to show evidence of weekly testing and a negative Covid-19 result if regularly reporting to work.

By November 1, Nevada workers who serve "vulnerable populations" must show proof of vaccination under a new emergency regulation passed Tuesday.

New hires must have at least one dose by their start date and must follow through on the required vaccination schedule to remain employed. Workers are allowed to ask for a medical or religious exemption.

Meanwhile, most American adults believe that the public health benefits of Covid-19 restrictions on activity are worth the economic and lifestyle costs they exact, a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center shows.

The Pew report also found about 80% of adults say they believe mask requirements on airplanes and public transportation are necessary to address the spread of the virus, and that international travel should be restricted.

Booster meeting won't be a slam dunk

On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss whether most Americans need a booster of their Covid-19 vaccine.

Unlike other meetings to discuss the vaccine, this one, with requests from Pfizer to authorize a third dose for most people, won't be a slam dunk.

"This will be much messier than in December," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. The FDA committee was quick to recommend authorization of vaccines made by Pfizer and rival Moderna last December.

When the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meets Friday, it will be presented with dueling data, some of it suggesting there's a need for boosters, but other pieces of data suggesting there is no such need.

Three separate articles published last week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report suggest that we don't need boosters.

On the other hand, an Israeli study found that over time, the vaccines' power to keep people from getting very sick with Covid-19 diminished. Looking at illnesses in the second half of July, that study found that those who'd received their second dose of Pfizer's vaccine in March were 70% more protected against severe disease than those who received the second shot in January.

President Joe Biden announced plans last month to begin administering booster doses next week. While she wouldn't say directly if that date would be met, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday she is hopeful about the timeline to get doses administered.

If the booster does get approved, experts will still have to wait and see how much protection is added by the third dose.

"I would hope that that would sustain us for an extended period of time, but I don't know that right now," Fauci said. "We're just going to have to do the boost, and then follow people long enough to determine what the durability of that protection is."

Moderna on Wednesday said booster doses of its Covid-19 vaccine recharged waning antibody levels and boosters formulated to match variants also worked as expected, according to their research team.

The 80 volunteers were given two doses of Moderna's vaccine. Their blood was tested six months later and they got a third shot.

Moderna has started its application for emergency use authorization of the third dose of its vaccine, but the FDA has not scheduled discussion of Moderna's application.