Joe Biden surprised many, including those in his own administration when, during his interview on 60 Minutes Sunday night, he boldly declared that the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it,” Biden added. “But the pandemic is over.”
Biden added, “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so, I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.”
Ever since then, the White House has been trying to walk back his remarks, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered a ridiculously terrible explanation for why Joe Biden didn’t actually say what he said.
“So, just to step back for a second what we saw during that interview—[the] 60 Minutes interview when he made those comments—he was walking through the Detroit car show—the halls of the Detroit car show—and he was looking around.”
Ahh, he was looking around. That’s a compelling explanation. Of course, she wasn’t done rambling her talking points.
“We have to remember the last time that they had held that event was three years ago, even as we’re talking about [the UN General Assembly] UNGA, the president’s going to speak shortly, as I just mentioned, we that hasn’t been held in person for about three years as well,” she said. “So we are in a different time. He’s been very consistent about that. And the reason why is because we are now prepared, we are now ready. We know how to deal with this pandemic. It is now more manageable.”
She then went into more talking points, crediting Biden for getting the pandemic under control, despite the fact that cases and deaths reached new highs on his watch.
WH @PressSec says Biden didn't actually mean the Covid pandemic is over despite saying it: "Just to step back for a second, when he made those comments, he was walking through the Detroit car show, the halls of the Detroit car show, he was looking around." pic.twitter.com/JUMzkkA1P8
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 21, 2022
The fact is, people have largely moved on from the pandemic, but that has nothing to do with what Biden did. Earlier this year, health experts were actually panning Biden’s COVID strategy, advocating for an “urgent strategy reset” because of surges in cases and deaths.
“The White House’s stay-the-course strategy on Covid is increasingly colliding with the realities of a roaring pandemic that is forcing schools and businesses to close,” NBC News reported in January. “A half dozen former health policymakers, including some members of Biden’s transition team, told NBC News the Biden administration needs an urgent reset on its Covid strategy or the White House could rapidly lose credibility with the public.”
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