President-elect Joe Biden warned on Monday that the U.S. was facing a “dark winter” as the coronavirus continues to spread unabated, taking a somber tone to address the country even as scientists celebrated positive news about a potential vaccine.
“There’s a need for bold action to fight this pandemic. We’re still facing a very dark winter,” he said in remarks after meeting with his newly appointed coronavirus task force.
Biden is unable to take the reins of the country’s response until he’s inaugurated on Jan. 20, so he used the crux of his speech to implore Americans to wear masks and continue practicing social distancing.
“It doesn’t matter your party. It doesn’t matter who you voted for,” he said. “We can save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask.”
His comments came just as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, a physician, tested positive for Covid-19, following by days the positive diagnosis of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The speech followed the first time Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris met with their Covid-19 advisory council, which will help the transition team develop a dramatically different approach than President Donald Trump’s to contain the pandemic. The 13-member task force is composed largely of doctors and public health experts, who will work with incoming administration to map out its pandemic response.
The task force was announced only hours before positive preliminary test results were released of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE indicating it prevented more than 90% of infections. The study involved tens of thousands of volunteers.
Eight months into the worst pandemic in a century, the preliminary results pave the way for the companies to seek an emergency-use authorization from regulators if further research shows the shot is also safe.
“At the same time,” Biden said, “it’s clear that this vaccine, even if it is approved, will not be widely available for many months yet to come.”
That’s true even if it easily clears the remaining hurdles, including the need for additional safety data, a regulatory review and distribution at 94 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. With enough doses for just 25 million people, masks offer a way to avoid the pathogen until a vaccine is widely available, and Biden’s message seemed to suggest patience will be required.