Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden used a key page from their old pandemic playbook to call out President Donald Trump’s catastrophic mishandling of the coronavirus crisis in a new campaign video.
In the clip, Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Biden recalled leaving a manual for the incoming Trump administration on how to respond quickly to “high consequence emerging infectious disease threats and biological incidents.”
But the Obama administration’s advice apparently went “neglected and ignored” by the Trump White House. And “we’ve now seen 225,000 people lose their lives,” said the former president.
Biden focused on one particular page that laid out community mitigation measures — from voluntary isolation of the vulnerable, the dismissal of students from schools, the cancelation of large public gatherings and the promotion of working from home.
“Laid out. Still haven’t done it,” said Biden.
“Had we implemented them quickly and effectively, as people like Anthony Fauci recommended, and scientists and epidemiologists recommended, we’d still be dealing with a pandemic, but we would have saved lives,” added Obama.
Check out the video here:
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- How does the coronavirus spread differently than the flu?
- What does the new CDC definition of a COVID-19 “close contact” mean for you?
- Is it safe to see grandparents for the holidays?
- Therapists predict how this year will shape our mental health.