An adviser to Joe Biden on coronavirus has floated the idea of a nationwide lockdown for “four to six weeks.”
Dr. Michael Osterholm was appointed to Biden’s 12-person Covid advisory board on Monday.
On Wednesday, he appeared on CNBC and attempted to rationalize a national lockdown order.
“We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies, to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments. We could do all of that,” he said.
“If we did that, then we could lock down for four-to-six weeks.”
Osterholm claimed that would help get the virus under control, “like they did in New Zealand and Australia.”
In August, Osterholm said the state-led lockdowns did not go far enough.
“The problem with the March-to-May lockdown was that it was not uniformly stringent across the country. For example, Minnesota deemed 78 percent of its workers essential,” he wrote in the New York Times, along with Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari.
“To be effective, the lockdown has to be as comprehensive and strict as possible.”
Biden said during the campaign that he would be open to a national lockdown if that is what the “scientists” told him to do.
In August, World News Tonight anchor David Muir predicted coronavirus and the flu would “combine” in January.
“I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.”
Joe Biden tells @DavidMuir in an exclusive interview that as president, he would shut the country down to stop the spread of COVID-19 if the move was recommended by scientists. https://t.co/T9rJgTWcDN pic.twitter.com/bapv7Rui6U
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) August 23, 2020
“Would you be prepared to shut this country down again?” Muir asked.
Biden indicated he would.
“So if the scientists say, ‘Shut it down’ ….” Muir continued.
“I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists,” Biden said.
Story cited here.
