U.S. Not Heading for Lockdown--White House

The Biden administration has no plans to curb future Covid-19 surges using a nationwide lockdown, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said at a briefing Monday.

Zients’ comments come as Austria enters its fourth nationwide lockdown and the Netherlands institute a partial lockdown amid a Covid surge rampaging across Europe in recent weeks. Instead of locking down the U.S., Zients said the federal government would rely on vaccines and therapeutic treatments to keep the country running in the event of another devastating Covid wave.

“We can curb the spread of the virus without having to in any way shut down our economy,” Zients said. “We have 82% of people now with one shot and more and more people getting vaccinated each week.”

Zients called for the continued use of vaccines, booster shots and monoclonal antibodies to prevent the U.S. from “going backwards in any way, shape or form.” More than 60 million eligible Americans still haven’t gotten vaccinated against Covid, and health officials are asking those who qualify for boosters to register for their extra doses with the holidays approaching. ...