Biden says US will ‘in all probability’ see more guidelines and restrictions amid rising Covid cases
CNNCNN — President Joe Biden said Friday the US will, “in all probability,” see more guidelines and restrictions amid rising coronavirus cases and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Pressed Friday on whether the US is headed for more lockdowns amid rising cases, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “The way we see this is that we have the tools in our tool belt to fight this, this, this variant,” adding, “we are not going to head towards a lockdown.” “Our goal is to make sure that we are not headed towards that – that is not going to be the direction that we take, because we have the tools to prevent that,” Jean-Pierre said, pointing to the availability of free vaccines across the country. In his sternest approach yet on the issue, the President bluntly argued that if you are unvaccinated, “You present a problem to yourself, to your family and to those with whom you work.” The federal employee vaccination requirement marked a pivot away from encouraging Americans to get vaccinated in their own time toward placing the onus for the continuing pandemic on unvaccinated individuals. Biden said Thursday that he didn’t know yet whether the federal government had the power to require vaccines, and White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the administration is not considering a nationwide requirement.