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Biden to announce coronavirus task force during transition

2020-11-07T23:50:42.088Z


President-elect Joe Biden will announce a 12-person coronavirus task force, including three health experts.Thousands take to the streets to celebrate Biden's victory 0:59 (CNN) - Joe Biden has pledged throughout his presidential campaign to take the coronavirus seriously, and days after his presidential transition, he will take the first steps to fulfill that promise. Biden will announce a 12-person coronavirus task force on Monday, two sources with knowledge told CNN. The announcement is intended to


Thousands take to the streets to celebrate Biden's victory 0:59

(CNN) -

Joe Biden has pledged throughout his presidential campaign to take the coronavirus seriously, and days after his presidential transition, he will take the first steps to fulfill that promise.

Biden will announce a 12-person coronavirus task force on Monday, two sources with knowledge told CNN.

The announcement is intended to indicate how seriously the president-elect plans to focus on a pandemic that has reached a record number of daily infections in the past week.

The task force will be headed by three co-chairs: former CEO of Health Services Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale University.

Additional members will be announced Monday.

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The priority of the task force's announcement underscores the urgency of the pandemic and Biden's intent to try to return the nation's attention to the virus.

The group, along with Biden and Harris, plan to hold frequent televised briefings on the crisis, say their aides.

It's reminiscent of the approach that Biden and former President Barack Obama took to the economy when they won the White House 12 years ago amid a deep economic crisis.

That's the mindset Biden takes toward the coronavirus, his advisers say, hoping to try to prevent the pandemic from getting worse before they take office on January 20.

Biden vowed to take the pandemic seriously, while Trump downplayed the virus and often complained that he was focusing too much on the campaign, even after he contracted COVID-19 himself.

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Despite Trump's comments that the virus would disappear quickly and that the country was "just around the corner" from overcoming the pandemic, the pandemic has intensified over the past week as votes continue to be counted across the country. country.

On Friday, there were 126,480 new cases a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the third day in a row that the nation surpassed 100,000 new cases and the highest reporting day since the pandemic began.

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Biden prepares his transition team

Biden's team expanded transition planning on Friday, when the former vice president's victory seemed imminent.

Biden's transition team, which has worked behind the scenes since Labor Day, also has preferred candidates in mind for top cabinet positions that require Senate confirmation and positions within the West Wing that do not.

Cabinet announcements are not expected for a few weeks, Biden's advisers said, and some are likely to take even longer until it is known who will control the Senate after the January elections in Georgia.

Ron Klain, a longtime adviser to Biden and his secretary general during the early years of the Obama administration, is a leading candidate for White House secretary general, people close to the process told CNN.

The president-elect transition is a robust effort with two Biden advisers - Jeff Zients and Ted Kaufman - taking primary leadership in overseeing these ongoing efforts.

Anita Dunn, Biden's senior campaign advisor and former White House communications director, is another co-chair, along with New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond.

Despite Trump continuing to fight the election results, top White House advisers have been planning a possible transition for months.

The effort is being led by Secretary General Mark Meadows and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination Chris Liddell, who has extensive experience in transition after leading Mitt Romney's presidential transition planning team in the lead up to the 2012 elections.

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How diverse will Biden's transition team be?

Biden is also committed to nominating candidates who reflect the diversity of the nation.

Early screening has already been done for some of the top potential candidates, the advisers said, but all will likely be revised in the wake of the election results and as questions remain about Senate control.

Biden's transition advisory board includes several people considered pioneers for senior management positions, including former national security adviser Susan Rice, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

"There is no room for shame," said a veteran of the Obama administration, who has informally advised Biden's transition team.

"Every cabinet appointment must be ready to be successful."

On Friday night, the president-elect - addressing the nation before the projections that give him the winner were known - said the election gave him "a mandate for action."

Nodding his head saying that by then he believed he had won the election, that gave them the political clout to act quickly and roll back aspects of the Trump administration, including its handling of the coronavirus.

coronaviruscovid-19Joe Biden

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-11-07

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