It’s Tuesday.
When Biden Bits was posted for Monday, President Biden had tweeted 2 times. He added 6 tweets giving him a Monday Tweeting Total of 8 tweets and 0 retweets.
On Monday, President Biden and Vice President Harris delivered remarks at the celebration of the Bipartisan Safer Community Act. The YouTube is 31 minutes and 42 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here. The Vice President’s remarks can be found here.
President Biden: What we are doing here today is real, it’s vivid, it’s relevant. The action we take today is a step designed to make our nation the kind of nation we should be. It’s about the most fundamental of things — the lives of our children, of our loved ones.
President Biden: We have finally moved that mountain — a mountain of opposition, obstruction, and indifference that has stood in the way and stopped every effort at gun safety for 30 years in this nation. (Applause.) And now is the time to galvanize this movement, because that’s our duty to the people of this nation.
President Biden: And as I look out in this crowd, I see so many advocates and families, many of whom have become friends, whose lives have been shattered by gun violence and who have made it their purpose to save other lives.
President Biden: And you have felt and you feel the price of inaction, that this has taken too long, with too much of a trail of bloodshed and carnage. And I know public policy can seem remote, technical, and distant from our everyday lives. But because of your work, your advocacy, your courage, lives will be saved today and tomorrow because of this. (Applause.)
The video clip is 41 seconds long.
President Biden: But when guns are the number one killer of children in the United States of America — let me say that again — guns are the number one killer of children in the United States. More than car accidents. More than cancer. And over the last two decades, more high-school [school-age] children have died from gun shots than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined. Think of that. Then we can’t just stand by. We can’t let it happen any longer. With rights come responsibilities. Yes, there’s a right to bear arms, but we also have the right to live freely — (applause) — without fear for our lives in a grocery store, in a classroom, on a playground, at a house of worship, in a store, at a workplace, a nightclub, a festival, in our neighborhoods and our streets. (Applause.)
The YouTube is 11 minutes and 2 seconds long. Both the President and Vice President remarks can be found here.
President Biden: Tomorrow, when this image is shared with the world, it will be a historic moment for science and technology, for astronomy and space exploration, for America and all of humanity.
The White House posted the following statement:
Today, the Biden Administration made public the first full-color image from the Webb Space Telescope, which captured the highest-resolution images of the infrared universe in history. The Webb Space Telescope launched from French Guiana in December 2021 and is now orbiting the Sun one million miles away from Earth. The image was previewed to President Biden and Vice President Harris during a briefing at the White House by officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where they discussed how these revolutionary images will enable breakthroughs in nearly every branch of astronomy.
During the briefing, President Biden publicly showed the first of the images: “Webb’s First Deep Field,” the “deepest” and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever produced. This image is filled with galaxies, some more than 13 billion years old, which means they formed just after the Big Bang. Over the coming days, NASA will publish additional images, which reveal details about the atmosphere of an exoplanet outside our solar system, “stellar nurseries” where stars form, galaxies that interact and trigger star formation and black holes, and a glimpse into how stars die.
The Webb Space Telescope is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. Its revolutionary technology will study every phase of cosmic history over the past 13.5 billion years — from inside our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. The telescope gives us the capacity to explore a wide range of questions that help us understand the origins of the universe and our place within it. The telescope is one of humanity’s great engineering feats, launching from Earth on a rocket, and then unfolding itself in space. Thousands of engineers and hundreds of scientists worked to make the telescope a reality, along with over 300 universities, organizations, and companies from 29 U.S. states and 14 countries.
President Biden and Vice President Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, were briefed by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Assistant to the President Dr. Alondra Nelson, who leads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Head of NASA Science Thomas Zurbuchen, James Webb Space Telescope Program Director Greg Robinson, Operations Project Scientist Jane Rigby, and Space Telescope Science Institute Deputy Director Nancy Levenson.
The images from the Webb Space Telescope illustrate the great leaps in science and technology discovery that can be made with U.S. government leadership, in partnership with other countries. The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to restore scientific integrity to Federal policy-making and to more broadly and equitably engage and serve Americans around science and technology solutions, including addressing great challenges like pandemics, cancer, and the climate crisis, and ensuring America remains the world leader in technologies and industries of the future that will be critical to our economic prosperity and national security.
White House.gov. 07/11/2022
NASA.gov., linked in the White House statement says:
On Monday, July 11, President Joe Biden released one of the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images in a preview event at the White House in Washington. NASA, in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), will release the full set of Webb’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data during a televised broadcast beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT (14:30 UTC) on Tuesday, July 12, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Learn more about how to watch.
This first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground. Learn more about this image (en español).
NASA.gov. 07/11/2022.
President Biden’s public schedule for Tuesday, July 12th, 2022:
9:30 AM | The President receives the President’s Daily Brief The White HouseClosed Press |
| 9:30 AM | Press Briefing by White House COVID-19 Response Team and public health officials James S. Brady Press Briefing RoomPress Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route Jerusalem, Israel |
| 10:45 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time The White HouseIn-Town Pool |
| 11:15 AM | The President holds a bilateral meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico to discuss their visions for North America and their efforts to address global challenges such as food security, continued cooperation on migration, and joint development efforts Oval OfficeRestricted In-House Pool Spray at the Top |
| 4:30 PM | The President and The First Lady host the White House Congressional Picnic; The Vice President attends South LawnOpen Press |
| 7:30 PM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Joint Base Andrews Visitor Control Center OverhangOut-of-Town Pool |
| 9:30 PMOfficial Schedule | The President departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews South GroundsIn-Town Travel Pool |
| 10:00 PM | The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route Jerusalem, Israel Joint Base AndrewsOut-of-Town Pool |
| 11:00 PM | Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route Jerusalem, Israel |
During yesterday’s White House press briefing National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan gave an overview of President Biden’s Tuesday:
Thank you, Karine. And thanks, everybody. I’m going to lay out a little bit of the context for this trip, make a couple of comments on tomorrow’s bilateral meeting with President López Obrador of Mexico, and then I’ll be happy to take your questions. But I appreciate you bearing with me as I try to lay out some of the elements of the President’s thinking as we head into this very important trip.
Tomorrow, President Biden will depart on a trip to Israel, the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia, where he will attend a major Middle Eastern summit. This trip will reinforce a vital American role in a strategically consequential region. And also, it will reinforce that our role is different today than it was 20 years ago on the eve of the war in Iraq.
This trip comes after a series of engagements with Indo-Pacific leaders in May, with Latin American leaders at the Summit of the Americas in early June, and with European leaders at the G7 and NATO Summits in late June. It is his first trip to the Middle East as President.
It is precisely because the world is becoming more geopolitically competitive, especially in the Indo-Pacific and Europe, that we need to remain intensively engaged in the Middle East. The Middle East is deeply interwoven with the rest of the world. And if we can act now to create a more peaceful and stable region, it will pay dividends for the American national interests and for the American people for years to come.
President Biden’s fundamental objectives when it comes to the Middle East are straightforward: a region with more stability and fewer wars that could draw the United States in, a region that is less hospitable to terrorism that threatens Americans, a region that is helping address global energy security at a moment when Russia’s war against Ukraine is roiling global energy markets, a region where no foreign power can dominate or gain strategic advantage over the United States, a region that is making progress towards greater human rights and greater human dignity.
And despite ongoing challenges, the Middle East President Biden will be visiting is more stable than the one we inherited 18 months ago.
We inherited a war in Yemen that was causing widespread death and suffering. We now have had more than three months of a ceasefire in Yemen — the longest peace in seven years.
In Iraq, we kept up pressure on ISIS, significantly degrading their capabilities, including by taking out its emir, allowing us to end the U.S. combat mission and transition our military presence in Iraq to focus on training Iraqis.
We’ve reunited our partners to ensure that it’s Iran, not the United States, that is isolated until it returns to the nuclear deal. And the frequency of Iranian-sponsored attacks against our forces in Iraq and Syria has dropped dramatically.
We’ve reestablished diplomatic ties with the Palestinians that had basically severed under our predecessor. Working with Congress, we’ve restored approximately $500 million in support for Palestinians. And we’ve reaffirmed unequivocal U.S. support for a two-state solution, which had come into question over the previous four years. And under President Biden’s leadership, we helped end a war in Gaza, which easily could have lasted months, in just 11 days.
In Saudi Arabia, we’ve reversed the blank-check policy that we inherited from the previous administration, while continuing to work with Saudi Arabia on critical priorities for the American people. We released the intelligence community report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. We issued new sanctions, including on the Rapid Intervention Force that was implicated in that murder.
Our diplomacy with Saudi Arabia is now delivering results, including a truce in Yemen, a more integrated GCC, progress on energy security, and security cooperation against threats from Iran.
Our partnership with Israel is strong across the board. We passed the largest support package in Israel with the help of Congress — over $4 billion — in American history. We’re working closely across every dimension of the relationship — from finance and food security, to cyber and emerging technology, to intelligence and security cooperation. And President Biden’s deep personal commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship and to the relationship between Israelis and Americans will be on full display this week.
In sum, the region is less pressurized and more integrated, with countries increasingly setting aside both old and more recent disagreements to work on practical initiatives in energy, technology, infrastructure, and more.
We are clear-eyed that the region remains full of challenges and threats from Iran, from terrorist groups that still operate in a number of countries; challenges in the ongoing conflict in Syria; challenges to human rights and human freedom. This is why the President believes there is no substitute for the power of face-to-face diplomacy.
In meetings on this trip, President Biden will seek to sustain and strengthen the fragile but real ceasefire in Yemen; deepen Israel’s integration into the region; provide material support to the Palestinian people while protecting the vision of a two-state solution; coordinate on the multi-faceted threat posed by Iran; advance energy security and food security objectives for the U.S. and our allies in the face of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, while promoting a clean energy transition over time; enlisting support for Middle Eastern partners for significant initiatives in technology and infrastructure; and publicly and privately advocating for universal values including progress on human rights and political reform.
In Israel, the President will meet with the Prime Minister, the President, the leader of the opposition, as well as attend a reception with a number of other key Israeli leaders and public figures. He will also have the opportunity to receive a briefing on Israel’s missile defense capabilities, including the U.S.-supported Iron Dome and a new laser-enabled system called Iron Beam. He will pay his respects at Yad Vashem. And he will hold a four-way virtual summit with the leaders of Israel, the UAE, and India, with a focus on food security.
President Biden will also meet with President Abbas and attend a health event with Palestinian civil society.
In Saudi Arabia, the President will meet with the Saudi leadership with an aim to strengthen our partnership and also hold bilateral meetings with a number of other Middle Eastern leaders, before closing the trip with the summit with the GCC+3. At that summit, he will make a major statement on the Biden administration’s strategy — his vision — for the Middle East region.
There will be other engagements in a crowded and fast-paced schedule, and we will share them with you in due course.
In fact, before we even leave, tomorrow morning President Biden will meet with President López Obrador here at the White House — the second time the two leaders will meet here — to build on the significant progress made at the Summit of the Americas, where Mexico expressed support for the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity and joined 20 other countries in adopting the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.
We expect the two leaders to discuss their common vision for North America and common efforts to address global challenges, including Russia’s war in Ukraine.
White House.gov. 07/11/2022.
The White House published the background press call previewing the Upcoming Meeting with President López Obrador of Mexico:
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:
Great. Thank you, everybody, for joining the phone call and for accommodating the last-minute changes.
So, getting right to it, the President has invited President López Obrador to the White House with an objective of building on the significant progress made at the Summit of the Americas this past June and to discuss our broad and deep partnership.
This is the second — this will be the second time that the two leaders will meet at the White House, though they also had a virtual meeting during the pandemic. And we’ve had a number of calls, as well as the Vice President making her first international trip to Mexico and also maintaining an active engagement with the Mexican leader. And then, of course, the wife of President López Obrador was hosted here by Dr. Biden for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.
So we’ve maintained a very active pace of bilateral engagement with Mexico.
So this — this just builds on the first virtual bilateral meeting that was held in March of last year, their bilateral at the North American Leaders Summit last November, and as I mentioned, several calls.
At the summit, you saw that Mexico supported the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, which is a marquee economic initiative for the Biden administration. Mexico also joined the United States — a total of 21 countries if you include the United States — in adopting the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, a framework to share responsibility and economic support for countries most impacted by refugee and migration flows.
Key is that it recognizes that the migration challenge is a hemispheric challenge. That is not just the migration challenge, it is also an economic and security challenge that all of us need to work together to address. We expect the two leaders to discuss their common vision for North America and efforts to address global challenges such as the impact of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, which has affected working families in both countries as well as the rest of the hemisphere.
And following the meeting, we expect to announce joint actions to improve border infrastructure and address irregular migration; enhance law enforcement cooperation to disrupt the flow of fentanyl to both our countries; and promote clean energy, economic innovation, and prosperity.
Now, for example, we will commit to completing a multi-year joint U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the 2,000-mile border. The joint effort seeks to align priorities, unite border communities, and make the flow of commerce and people more secure and efficient.
I’ll put a finer point on this. The point of entry at San Ysidro is the most — is the busiest land border crossing in the entire world. And that is a place where in — during the Obama administration, we made significant investments to make sure that it was functioning effectively.
Similarly, we’re looking at other similar ports of entry like, for example, Otay Mesa II, which is — our objective ultimately is — a part of the — a joint venture is to create a 21st century border crossing for the San Diego/Baja California mega-region that will really enhance regional mobility and fuel economic growth and binational trade at the same time that we are, of course, working on very important migration issues.
We will also commit to deepen our cooperation to combat transnational criminal organizations that foment violence in both countries. To that end, we will establish a U.S.-Mexico operational task force under the bilateral Bicentennial Partnership on Security that was launched last October to ensure that we are accelerating our joint efforts to disrupt the flow of fentanyl into our countries.
And as the United States and Mexico will also launch a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections, as well as expand our diplomatic coordination on migration issues throughout the region. And first and foremost as well is just our economic agenda, as I had mentioned, under the Americas Partnership, and as well as the High-Level Economic Dialogue, which will meet in September of this year.
So, more to come on this tomorrow.
President Biden and his administration firmly believe our relationship with Mexico is a priority and critical to delivering for the American people and people in the hemisphere. And you will see that action on Tuesday.
I think it’s also important to mention that the Vice President is going to host the Mexican President in a small breakfast tomorrow to also follow up on what has been really an active pace of engagement by the Vice President on our Root Causes Strategy, on our bilateral engagement with Mexico to make sure that we’re following up on a lot of the conversations that they’ve had since her visit to Mexico last year.
So I will now turn it back to the moderators and my other colleague. Thank you.
White House.gov. 07/11/2022
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:
Hi, I can take that question. This is [senior administration official]. You know, migration cooperation is a top priority for both President López Obrador and President Biden. I think this will be a top subject of conversation tomorrow.
You know, I think we view each other as equal partners in this — two countries that have been significantly impacted by migration and refugee flows.
You know, as [senior administration official] mentioned, I think we expect the focus to be a lot on how we can expand legal pathways to both countries, with a particular focus on labor pathways from Central America but also from other parts of the region; how we can continue to cooperate to combat the multibillion-dollar smuggling industry.
And I think we saw with the tragedy in San Antonio just the incredible impact of these smuggling networks and the need to, with great urgency, address that. Both countries are — continue to work to expand their asylum systems and also to repatriate those that don’t qualify.
So all of these are themes that are encapsulated in the Los Angeles Declaration that both countries championed. So, you know, I think that, just to sum it up, migration will be certainly a central focus of the discussion.
White House.gov. 07/11/2022.
President Biden has tweeted…
He has tweeted 2 times so far for Tuesday.
The White House posted the following fact-sheet; Biden Administration Outlines Strategy to Manage BA.5
Today, the White House COVID-19 Team is announcing its strategy to manage BA.5. The strategy relies on ensuring that Americans continue to have easy and convenient access to the vaccines, treatments, tests, and other tools that protect against and treat COVID-19. These tools – even in the face of BA.5 – work to prevent serious illness, keep people out of the hospital, and save lives – and we can prevent nearly all COVID-19 deaths with them.
BA.4 and BA.5 – subvariants of the Omicron variant – now make up 80 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., with BA.5 accounting for a majority of cases. Early indications signal that BA.5 may have some increased ability to escape immunity, including from prior infections, meaning it has the potential to cause the numbers of infections to rise in the coming weeks. This potential for increase is greatest where fewer people are up to date on their vaccinations and there is increased waning of immunity from vaccines.
In January 2021, the American people had limited tools to protect themselves against COVID-19. Today, that is no longer the case. Thanks to the infrastructure that the President’s comprehensive COVID-19 response has built and the tools that the Administration has worked to make widely available over the past 18 months, the U.S. is prepared to combat the challenge of BA.5. More than 222 million Americans are fully vaccinated, over 106 million people have at least their first booster shot, and virtually every American of every age is eligible for vaccination. And, we have more courses of lifesaving treatments available and being used than ever before, as well as widely available at-home tests and high-quality masks.
The President’s comprehensive COVID-19 response has produced tremendous results for the American people: COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive force it once was, and most COVID-19 deaths are now preventable because of the vaccines, treatments, and other tools the Biden Administration has made available to the American people. Daily COVID-19 deaths are down by 90 percent since the President took office. America’s schools are open. More Americans are working in the private sector than before the pandemic started. And, the vast majority of Americans are comfortable visiting with loved ones, eating out, traveling and doing other things that they did before COVID-19.
In March, the President released his National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan – a roadmap to continue our fight against the virus and to continue minimizing its impact on our lives. Since emerging from the Omicron surge this past winter, we have worked to make sure that the tools we have remain widely available and easily accessible to Americans.
To confront BA.5, the Administration will continue mobilizing the full strength and capabilities of the federal government and working with state and local leaders, health care workers, the private sector, and community- and faith-based organizations to ensure that the American people have easy and convenient access to and use vaccines, tests, and treatments.
White House.gov. 07/12/2022.
The Administration’s strategy to manage BA.5 includes:
- Making it easy for people to get vaccines and boosters: The Administration will continue working with state and local leaders, doctors and pediatricians, pharmacies, community health centers, long-term care facilities, employers, and community- and faith-based organizations to drive additional uptake of booster shots, particularly among those age 50 and older and other at-risk populations, including long-term care facility staff and residents. Given the rise of BA.5, it is essential that Americans stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations. The science is clear that COVID-19 vaccines remain our single-most important tool to protect people and prevent serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, and staying up to date on booster shots ensures that people have the highest level of protection possible. Based on the latest CDC data, adults who are up to date with their vaccinations are 3.5 times less likely to be hospitalized than unvaccinated adults; among those who are 50 and older, people who have received two booster shots are 42 times less likely to die from COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated. Vaccines are free and easy to access at 90,000 convenient locations nationwide. And, the guidance is clear that every American age 5 and over should receive a booster five months after their primary series, and individuals age 50 and older or those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised should receive a second booster shot at least four months after their first.
- Making it easy to access COVID-19 treatments and boost provider and patient awareness: The Administration will continue working across the federal government, with state and local leaders, health care providers, as well as the public and private sectors, to take additional actions to boost access and awareness of lifesaving treatments, particularly in areas where BA.5 is spreading. Today, the U.S. has three treatments that are effective against BA.5, including Paxlovid, a lifesaving antiviral pill that has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by about 90 percent. Americans who test positive for COVID-19 should consult their health care provider about their eligibility for these treatments, or visit COVID.gov to find a Test to Treat location where they can get tested and treatments all in one place. The Administration has purchased 20 million treatment courses of Paxlovid – more than any other country in the world – and moved quickly to make these treatments widely available and to educate health care providers and patients about their availability and efficacy. Oral antivirals are now available at over 41,000 convenient locations nationwide, and nearly 90 percent of Americans live within 5 miles of a place where they can pick up a prescription. As a result of the Administration’s actions, the number of people benefiting from oral antivirals has dramatically increased over the course of this year, from about 18,000 prescriptions filled each week in January to more than 230,000 last week – a more than 12-fold increase. Each day, about one-third of confirmed and reported cases are receiving free and effective oral antiviral treatments.
- Making free COVID-19 testing, including at-home tests, widely available: Testing continues to be an important tool to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including BA.4 and BA.5. In the face of BA.5, the Administration is encouraging Americans to use at-home tests before attending large, indoor gatherings, traveling, or visiting indoors with immunocompromised individuals. COVID-19 testing is now more widely available and accessible to the American people than ever before, and there are now 17 over-the-counter, at-home, rapid tests authorized for the U.S. market – up from zero when the President took office. To help ensure that Americans have tests on hand if a need arises, the Administration opened COVIDtests.gov for a third round of ordering ahead of the summer, meaning that 16 free tests have been made available to each household since the launch of the program. To ensure equitable access for visually-impaired individuals, the Administration has also made available more accessible at-home tests to households with visually-impaired individuals. To date, the Administration has delivered approximately 530 million at-home tests directly to over 75 million American households for free through COVIDtests.gov. Additionally, private health insurers, Medicare, and all Medicaid programs are required to cover at-home COVID-19 tests for free; health insurance plans now cover eight free tests per month per individual which can be easily accessed at local pharmacies and online. And, there are over 15,000 federally-supported free testing sites across the nation. This free testing program has increased equitable access to testing, and 50 percent of individuals currently served by the pharmacy free testing program are racial and ethnic minorities or live in high social vulnerability communities.
- Making free high-quality masks widely available and communicate clear recommendations about when people should consider masking: Experts agree that masking in indoor, public spaces is an important tool to control the spread of COVID-19. The CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels provide individuals with clear recommendations on when to consider masking in indoor, public spaces. As BA.5 drives an increase in cases, the Administration continues to encourage Americans to visit COVID.gov to find the level of COVID-19 in their community and follow CDC’s recommendations on wearing masks in public, indoor settings. Since January 2021, the Biden Administration has taken significant action, including using the Defense Production Act, to ensure that the U.S. has ample supply of high-quality masks for health care workers and that high-quality masks are also widely available to the American public online and in stores. To further increase access, over the past seven months, the Administration has made 400 million non-surgical N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile available to the American people for free at tens of thousands of convenient locations nationwide – the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history. And, the Administration will continue to make masks available for health care and other essential workers through states, building on the over 75 million masks and respirators we have already distributed to states, Tribes, and territories across the country.
- Prioritizing protections for immunocompromised individuals: As BA.5 cases rise, the Administration will continue to provide support to individuals who are immunocompromised so that they have the support they need to live their lives safely. The Administration has initiated a communications campaign to ensure that immunocompromised individuals and their close contacts are up to date with COVID-19 vaccination and boosters. The availability of vaccines for kids as young as six months old also ensures that all close contacts of immunocompromised individuals can be protected by COVID-19 vaccines. The Administration also continues to make effective pre-exposure prophylactics such as Evusheld more widely available through enhanced distribution to clinicians’ offices and clinics. And, in the coming weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will launch an easy-to-remember hotline to help individuals access this effective tool to prevent COVID-19.
- Encouraging all building owners to improve indoor ventilation: Improving ventilation can help prevent the spread of BA.4 and BA.5 indoors in buildings. The Administration has provided state and local leaders hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds that can be used in schools, public buildings, and other settings to improve indoor air quality, and the Administration will continue to advance indoor air quality in buildings, including by increasing public awareness around ventilation and filtration improvements to reduce disease spread, as well as by recognizing buildings and organizations that have taken steps to improve indoor air quality. These efforts will expand on the Administration’s “best practices” guide for improving indoor air quality and reducing the risk of spreading dangerous airborne particles and the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, which calls on all building owners and operators, schools, colleges and universities, and organizations of all kinds to adopt key strategies to improve indoor air quality in their buildings and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, CDC has released interactive tools to help individuals at home, in schools, and in other buildings to understand how air flows in their space and what they can do to help shore up air quality and improve ventilation indoors.
- Empowering people with the latest information on COVID-19 and where to access vaccines, treatments, tests, and masks at COVID.Gov: The Administration will continue to communicate clearly with the American people about COVID-19 and the steps that they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones. Earlier this year, the Biden Administration launched COVID.gov, a new one-stop shop website to help Americans find where to access lifesaving tools like vaccines, tests, treatments, and masks. People can also type in their county to find the latest updates on the level of COVID-19 in their community and related guidance. And, with a click of a button, people can access resources related to testing, ventilation, and other important COVID-19 topics. COVID.gov is available in English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese and is accessible for those using assistive technologies. The Administration is also making all of these COVID-19 tools available over the phone through the National Hotline at 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489), which supports over 150 languages. For individuals with disabilities who may need additional support, the Disability Information and Access Line (DIAL) is also available to help at 1-888-677-1199 or via email at DIAL@usaginganddisability.org.
For formatting reasons, I converted text to a list.
The Congressional Picnic hosted by the President and First Lady is scheduled to start around 4:30 p.m. D.C., time.
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