Biden’s Six-Pronged plan

Biden introduced a six-step pronged plan which was designed to aid in slowing COVID-19 down over the next six months. The plan was designed to ensure a healthy future to unfold within the next few months for our country as we battle COVID-19 and its variants. By enforcing these six steps, schools and businesses will stay open and safe along with protecting our economy from another lockdown.

The first step in Biden’s plan is vaccinating those who have not yet been vaccinated. It is conveniently available to all Americans over 16 years old since April 19 and those who are over the age of 12 since May. The Biden administration now requires vaccinations for federal government workers. Many employers, schools, nursing homes, restaurants, and hospitals have followed in those footsteps now requiring their employees to be vaccinated in order to slow the spread and protect their businesses. This step of the plan has the end goal to reduce the number of unvaccinated people by using regulatory power to increase the number of citizens that will be required to be vaccinated.

The second step is to further protect the over 175 million Americans who are already vaccinated. Although the vaccine slows the spread, there is still a possibility of contracting the virus. As of recent data, there is only one confirmed positive case out of every 5,000 vaccinated Americans per week. In August, national top health officials released their plan for booster shots for older and more vulnerable individuals. Booster shots make for stronger protection against the virus as it grows into different variants. Once the FDA approves and the CDC recommends the booster shots, the booster shot would be given beginning the week of September 20.
            Step three aims to keep schools open with the safety of teachers and students in mind. The goal is to keep young Americans focused on learning while also allowing them to safely return to the classroom. This has been a top priority for the Biden administration since day one. To keep students safe in schools, taking the right steps is going to be required— including all staff and eligible students to be vaccinated, universal indoor masking, maintaining social distancing, improving ventilation and screening regular testing for students and staff. The most important step parents can take is to get their children that are over the age of five vaccinated, as it is the best protection against the virus. It is important to surround those that are too young for the vaccine with vaccinated classmates and staffing.

Increasing testing and requiring masking is the fourth step of the plan. Doubling down with masking on top of being vaccinated increases the protection from the virus. Biden’s plan is to make testing easier and more accessible by testing at home, at pharmacies and in the doctor’s office.

Protecting our economic recovery is the fifth step in Biden’s plan. Biden’s focus by jumpstarting the economy and getting Americans back to work. Over 4 million jobs have been created in the first 6 months of his presidency alone, which is record-breaking. Despite an increase in the Delta variant, last month the economy created 235,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest since before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The last step of the six-prong plan is Improving care for those with COVID-19. As the country is at work trying to reduce cases, hospitalizations, and deaths related to the virus, they are planning to maintain focus on treating people infected. In early July, the administration launched         Surge Response Teams to help states with increased cases. The Administration has worked with 18 states deploying almost 1,000 medical personnel, hundreds of ambulances, and other medical-related equipment and set up free testing sites along with local outbreak investigations.

The only way that our country is going to get back on the right track is by following Biden’s Administration six-step plan. It is our duty as American citizens to get vaccinated. It is possible to help protect each other and the ones that we love by slowing the spread and lowering the numbers of COVID-19 related patients in hospitals to make room for others who have other medical needs.