Statement by President Joe Biden on the Omicron COVID-⁠19 Variant

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Link to tweet

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/26/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-omicron-covid-19-variant/

This morning I was briefed by my chief medical advisor, Dr. Tony Fauci, and the members of our COVID response team, about the Omicron variant, which is spreading through Southern Africa. As a precautionary measure until we have more information, I am ordering additional air travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries. These new restrictions will take effect on November 29. As we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advises.

For now, I have two important messages for the American people, and one for the world community.

First, for those Americans who are fully vaccinated against severe COVID illness – fortunately, for the vast majority of our adults — the best way to strengthen your protection is to get a booster shot, as soon as you are eligible. Boosters are approved for all adults over 18, six months past their vaccination and are available at 80,000 locations coast-to-coast. They are safe, free, and convenient. Get your booster shot now, so you can have this additional protection during the holiday season.

Second, for those not yet fully vaccinated: get vaccinated today. This includes both children and adults. America is leading the world in vaccinating children ages 5-11, and has been vaccinating teens for many months now – but we need more Americans in all age groups to get this life-saving protection. If you have not gotten vaccinated, or have not taken your children to get vaccinated, now is the time.

Finally, for the world community: the news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations. The United States has already donated more vaccines to other countries than every other country combined. It is time for other countries to match America’s speed and generosity.

In addition, I call on the nations gathering next week for the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting to meet the U.S. challenge to waive intellectual property protections for COVID vaccines, so these vaccines can be manufactured globally. I endorsed this position in April; this news today reiterates the importance of moving on this quickly.

###

[elleng]

1. 'I call on the nations gathering next week for the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting

to meet the U.S. challenge to waive intellectual property protections for COVID vaccines, so these vaccines can be manufactured globally.'

[Budi]

2. K & R....

"As a precautionary measure until we have more information, I am ordering additional air travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries. These new restrictions will take effect on November 29. As we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advises.

For now, I have two important messages for the American people, and one for the world community."

"Get a booster
Get vaccinated"
~ President of the United States, Joe Biden.

[Qutzupalotl]

3. Now compare that to TFG

who refused to admit Covid numbers were rising on his watch, and kept spewing happy talk like the disease would just vanish like a miracle. Oh, and deliberately tried to kill people in blue states.

[tanyev]

4. "Stop testing!"

[Sinistrous]

17. I had forgotten the gasp-inducing

stupidly of that statement.

[OMGWTF]

20. Still boggles my mind how fking stooooopid TFG is.

[monkeyman1]

23. just fucking stupid ! known about TFG since middle 60's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Progressive Jones]

34. Yet his drooling fans are even more stupid than Trump is. They are the real problem. nt

[keithhs28]

38. Stupid people are

a national security risk to the nation.

[Tree Lady]

5. I like what he said but wonder

Why travel restrictions not until 29th? Afraid holiday travelers will get stuck? How about if they spread new variant? All travelers from those 7 places until the 29th should be in quarantine.

[taxi]

6. Maybe that's when an outbreak would start to stress resources

[madville]

9. And the travel ban only applies to foreign nationals

US citizens and legal residents can still travel to and from those affected countries. The new variant will be here within weeks, these policies won’t stop that, maybe slow it down a bit though.

[LisaL]

10. Yep. It's coming.

We are not going to be able to keep it out. For all we know it might already be here.

[Tree Lady]

11. The world is so small now that we

Travel by plane all over. Every time I think of ordering some new cloth masks I wonder how much longer and I guess its time to get some new ones. You can only wash so many times. My favorites are pretty used, though I use filters with them.

[HUAJIAO]

15. Cloth masks will not protect YOU nearly as well as N95 or FDA approved KN95.

And the price on those has come down so far as to make them very affordable....

[Rebl2]

13. Don't understand

why US citizens would still be allowed to travel to and from those countries affected. Makes no sense to me. Americans coming back from these countries should have to test before coming back then quarantine once they are back.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. Agreed

Look at the history of the U.S. allowing 20-30K people from China before they stopped it.............

That single act allowed the virus to literally explode in the U.S.

[Rebl2]

22. Certainly didn't help

the situation.

[orleans]

27. i remember there were live shots on the local news

showing the jammed stairwells and hallways at an airport
it was fu*king insanity!

and it should be mandatory quarantine (and not this crap where we tell people to quarantine and then they say ok and do whatever the hell they want)

a business partner of a friend of mine had to quarantine for several weeks at a government run hotel when he went to another country. stupid me--i can't remember where he went, but they had to pay for the food that was brought to their hotel doors (left in the hallway) 3x a day and they weren't allowed to go outside!

that's what we need to do for this new variant

[DENVERPOPS]

33. Super Idea

I wonder how many times we are gonna allow this same shit, time after time, before our U.S. population is reduced to zero......

I gotta tell you, mother nature is making it very evident she has finally had enough of the way humans are treating HER planet.....

[Irish_Dem]

31. It is probably already here.

According to a woman medical expert on nightly news tonight.

[C Moon]

39. Agreed

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. Exactly!!!!!!!!

[TomSlick]

8. I hope you are being sarcastic.

The problem is that sarcasm sometimes doesn't come through in written text.

That's why we have the helpful thingy.

[wnylib]

14. Wow. I actually saw a post before

it was removed this time. The team works so quickly that I usually don't see what was removed before it's gone.

What motivates those bozos? Do they really believe that their idiotic comments will persuade anyone here? Do they think they are carrying out some heroic mission? Or are they just run-of-the-mill losers who have nothing better to do than troll?

[TomSlick]

32. I'm not sure the post wasn't meant to be sarcasm.

It was too over the top even for the nuttiest of RW nut jobs. I really read like someone being sarcastic.

If they weren't being sarcastic, there is a need for professional help.

[wnylib]

37. It was definitely over the top.

I didn't see it as sarcastic, but maybe it was.

[C Moon]

40. I didn't see the post, but QAnon is WAY over the top nutty, so I wouldn't doubt it was serious.

[wnylib]

42. That's my take on it, too.

They say anything, no matter how irrational, so I take posts like that at face value. Basically it was full of anti Biden accusations and inuendo.

[Tommymac]

51. Understand there are paid trolls out there - that practice has been going on for decades.

Seen it on every forum I've been involved with since the mid 1990's.

Once one recognizes this fact, then the pattern emerges and the paid trolls can be easier to spot and control.

They come out in droves for special events.

There are companies out there whose sole purpose is to hire posters who will try and disrupt honest discussions about any number of issues - from gaming to politics. These trolls are especially apparent on Game forums where the competition is so cutthroat that game companies regularly engage in this vile practice. You can also see this at work on any forum where folks rate products - check out Amazon and Google ratings for any product from electronics to hotel rooms to cars...there are tons of paid disruptors on these forums.

[wnylib]

55. I've noticed them on Amazon ratings.

Also can spot the paid promoters of a product in the ratings. But what's the point of continuing to do it at a site like DU where they will be so quickly removed? A waste of time and money for them.

[wnylib]

16. Glad to see that the variant name was changed

from Nu to Omicron. Nu was only a tentative name suggestion anyway, and it is too confusing with the English word "new."

I'm afraid that we will see mutations indefinitely until there finally is a variant that no vaccine works against. The anti vaxxers are causing this.

I suspect that Omicron is contributing to the rising European cases, and has been circulating there for a while without detection.

[raccoon]

19. I'm so thankful to have a SANE and CARING President

In office!

[wnylib]

43. I'll second that!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

21. Breaking patents like he promised during the campaign would do a lot more than travel bans.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. Yes. I heard on NPR them talk about what it was like

Trying to eradicate smallpox. It took a commitment by all the major countries in the world and the dollars committed. Friends and enemies alike participated to get everyone in the world vaccinated


I'd like to see President Biden do that. Lead an effort like that. What a wonderful and visible accomplishment that would be.

[madville]

36. That would be impossible with this today

The world was less densely populated, travel was much less and these vaccines don’t prevent infection now, just lessen symptoms. It’s definitely here to stay.

Even if they create a new vaccine for this specific strain, we are back to square one as far as rolling it out and then there will the next variant after this one.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

45. Good points! What would you do, if you had

unlimited power?

[totodeinhere]

28. These restrictions just announced will not stop this variant.

We need a total ban on travel from that area which includes American citizens and legal residents. Even that probably won't stop it but this partial ban certainly will not.

[madville]

35. Even if we banned all travel it's still going to get here through

The Southern border and spread up from there. There is no way to keep it out since we can’t shut off everything like an island nation like New Zealand or the small Pacific islands or Hawaii.

[OnlinePoker]

29. From the WHO advisory

Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs.

https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern

Edit: You'll have to cut and paste the link. I think the brackets screw up the address when I try to paste it into the post.

[progree]

30. Graph: Omicron variant 90% of all sequenced in S. Africa in 20 days vs. 90 days for delta

I read the numbers off the graph, so these are approximate



https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=417261976722114&id=100053149454347

[GusBob]

41. Travel bans don't work

They didn’t last time and the 29th is too late

Both the Hong Kong cases were vaccinated and who knows what contact they had across the hall in a hotel while quarantined

Get busy with a new vaccine

[BannonsLiver]

44. Everyone's an expert.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

46. BL! Thought I learned you! This comment was not helpful:)

[GusBob]

50. If only

Cutesy emoticons, snarky comments and parroting urban slang catch phrases like
‘Clout chasers’ were as effective against COVID as they are against preventing discussion in a news forum

Oh wait, they aren’t effective at either. Darn!

[GusBob]

49. As of the 26th it has been found outside of SA

Israel, Hong Kong, Belgium and the Netherlands

Already declared a virus of concern by WHO due to its transmission rate and ability to infect vaxxed folks

I will always remember Trumpers crowing about the travel ban from China and the people who knew better saying it was useless

[Laura PourMeADrink]

53. I am 100% on same page

[Laura PourMeADrink]

54. Although maybe I am wondering...do you have to have a loved

one who died to care? I mean REALLY care...enough to constructively
criticize our governments response?

[Blue Owl]

47. Being back Obama's pandemic playbook that tRump threw out

And FUCK tRUMP

[LetMyPeopleVote]

48. I missed having a real POTUS who cares about people

Link to tweet