President-elect Joe Biden has already announced plans to move quickly on several fronts, including Covid-19.
President-elect Joe Biden isn’t waiting for the legal action Donald Trump’s campaign has taken to run its course. He’s already announced plans to move quickly on several fronts, including Covid-19.
The members of his Coronavirus Task Force have been on the job for months, readying strategies for a federal approach to the Covid-19 crisis. Simultaneously, his team has developed a detailed infrastructure improvement plan that would create jobs, as well as facilitate travel to and within the United States. These plans, if effective, would help facilitate recovery for the travel and meetings sectors.
Following are highlights of those two key initiatives, as outlined at joebiden.com.
Control Covid-19
The Biden Plan to Combat Coronavirus (Covid-19) and Prepare for Future Global Health Threats is quite comprehensive. It calls for:
- Making testing widely available and free.
- Eliminating cost barriers for prevention of and care for Covid-19.
- Pursuing decisive economic measures to help hard-hit workers, families, and small businesses and to stabilise the American economy.
The President-elect's 15-member Coronavirus Task Force is chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine. Among others on the team are Dr. Luciana Borio, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Dr. Zeke Emanuel, one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act and a former health adviser to President Barack Obama.
Already working for several months, the task force has been holding briefings with Biden up to four times per week, according to global security expert Bruce McIndoe, founder of WorldAware and McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC, who keeps clients apprised of developments that relate to business risk. The group's mission is to advise transition officials on managing the latest spike of Covid-19 cases, ensuring that vaccines are safe and protecting at-risk populations.
Build a Modern Infrastructure
Biden's "Build Back Better" plan is a national effort aimed at creating the jobs needed to build a modern, sustainable infrastructure now and deliver an equitable, clean energy future. "We have the opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable economy — one that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050," he pledges. The goal is to make the movement of goods and people faster, cheaper, cleaner and manufactured in America, while preserving and growing the union workforce.
Among details of the plan:
Renew and transform infrastructure: Rebuild roads, bridges, green spaces, water systems and electricity grids.
Improve public transit: Provide every American city with 100,000 or more residents with high-quality, zero-emissions public transportation options ranging from creating light-rail networks to improving existing transit and bus lines, and installing infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Depend on clean energy: Biden's plan will transform the energy sources that power the transportation sector, making it easier for mobility to be powered by electricity and clean fuels, including commuter trains, school and transit buses, ferries and passenger vehicles.
Spark a railroad revolution: Plans call for creating the cleanest, safest and fastest rail system in the world — for both passengers and freight. His administration will work with Amtrak and private freight rail companies to further electrify the rail system, reducing diesel fuel emissions.
Expand broadband access to all Americans: As the Covid-19 crisis has revealed, Americans everywhere need universal, reliable, affordable and high-speed internet to do their jobs, participate equally in remote school learning and stay connected. Universal broadband is long overdue and critical to broadly shared economic success.
This article was first published on Northstar Meetings Group