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left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
Mon Nov 9, 2020, 12:01 AM Nov 2020

Biden will call governors, mayors about mask mandate

President-elect Joe Biden in the coming days will begin calling governors and the mayors of major cities from both parties to encourage them to institute mask mandates as the coronavirus pandemic enters a potentially deadlier phase with winter arriving, according to a senior Biden adviser who briefed NBC News. "If a governor declines, he'll go to the mayors in the state and ask them to lead," the official said. "In many states, there is the capacity of mayors to institute mandates." Roughly 20 states already have mask mandates, and research suggests that universal use of masks could save more than 100,000 lives. The conversations follow on Biden's plans to announce the names of scientists and other experts on his coronavirus task force Monday.

The Biden team is also looking at a possible mask mandate for federal buildings, a step the Trump administration has not taken even after the president and a number of his top officials and aides, most recently chief of staff Mark Meadows, have become infected.

The next step, according to the adviser, is to assemble a national testing plan. Biden is directing his team to devise a series of options for both legislation and executive orders to institute a testing plan, given the uncertainty around whether Democrats will be able to get legislation passed. In late October, Biden laid out a plan to tackle the coronavirus that included testing, contact tracing and vaccines as areas that would be prioritized, while the Biden transition aims to quickly announce picks to run the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One issue is whether Biden will also invoke the Defense Production Act to quickly distribute vaccines.

President Donald Trump notably rebuffed calls by the American Medical Association, among other health groups, to invoke the 1950s-era act, which would have directed U.S. manufacturers to quickly distribute medical supplies to hospitals during the virus's first major surge in the spring.

With the holidays approaching and significant concern among public health officials that indoor gatherings among family members could lead to Covid-19 spread, Biden will use his platform to "fill the void" left by the administration in stressing the need for social distancing and mask-wearing, said the official.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1247067#blogHeader

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Biden will call governors, mayors about mask mandate (Original Post) left-of-center2012 Nov 2020 OP
Meanwhile, Pence has been absent since Oct 20th. BigmanPigman Nov 2020 #1
Maybe he's sick left-of-center2012 Nov 2020 #3
I hope that fly gets tested. BigmanPigman Nov 2020 #4
If governors decline, Joe should look at discretionary funds that can be withheld Blue_true Nov 2020 #2
oh please ooh please. mopinko Nov 2020 #5

BigmanPigman

(51,430 posts)
1. Meanwhile, Pence has been absent since Oct 20th.
Mon Nov 9, 2020, 12:06 AM
Nov 2020

Is he attempting to play "catch-up" with his Covid meeting tomorrow? Too late, dude. Go back to swatting flies.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
2. If governors decline, Joe should look at discretionary funds that can be withheld
Mon Nov 9, 2020, 12:12 AM
Nov 2020

from their state, along with highway funds. Time to play hardball with those assholes, if they insist upon resisting a mask mandate.

mopinko

(69,803 posts)
5. oh please ooh please.
Mon Nov 9, 2020, 12:47 AM
Nov 2020

damn i am sick of the maskholes.
i was at the cemetery today where my ggrandparents are buried. i just sat in my car, eating some lunch.
it's a lovely old place, right on the lake. lots of ppl treat it like a park. it was a beautiful day.
there is a sign on the gate telling ppl to wear masks, but...

the place was full of ppl walking and jogging w no masks.
i was trying to resist yelling at them. but finally a group of 3 ppl walked by w no masks.
i had to roll down my window and tell them- i came here to visit my ancestors, not to join them.
and i know these ppl dont have kin there. the place is almost all irishmen. these ppl were asian.

so sick of them. i had just had a punk call me an old bitch in the liquor store because i told him to get a mask. i go there because they are better than most stores.
dude had walked in w a mask on, then took it off, and wouldnt put it back on.

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