Democratic Candidates Step Up To Face Coronavirus, And Trump

because the American government releases confusing and often contradictory directives associated with how best to protect yourself and those around you from the novel coronavirus, presidential candidates are stepping in with their own plans as to how they would combat the pandemic. The plans model what their leadership could look like should they be elected in November.


On Thursday (March 12), former Vice President Joe Biden released a plan to combat COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, and also to “prepare for future global health threats.”


“Downplaying it, being overly dismissive, or spreading misinformation is only going to hurt us and further advantage the spread of the disease,” Biden mentioned throughout a press conference on Thursday (March 12). “But neither should we panic or fall back or xenophobia. Labeling COVID-19 a foreign virus does not displace accountability for the misjudgments taken so far by the Trump administration.”





Biden’s plan includes widening availability of testing for COVID-19, along with making it free to each person who needs it, without consideration of immigration or insurance status. (An estimated 44 million Residents of the
U.S. Are uninsured; Biden’s health care plan includes bolstering the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, while Senator Bernie Sanders has famously campaigned on a pledge to instate Medicare for All.) He also wants to protect health care workers on the frontlines, make sure that people receive the right intelligence in a timely manner, and secure paid sick leave for those impacted, along with to instate a fund to help those who have experienced a loss work due to the coronavirus.


Nevertheless it could be irresponsible to wait up until the November election, or perhaps a January 2021 inauguration, to respond to what the World Health Company has classified a pandemic. “The Trump Administration must right now heed the calls of Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to put the health and safety of the American people first,” Biden’s plan reads. “Much more needs to be done, right now, to bring our nation with each other, respond to this emergency, and set the groundwork for bold, long-term reforms, including ensuring excellent, affordable health care along with a comprehensive paid leave program for every American.”


In a press conference the same day, Sanders compared the virus to a war, saying “now is the time for solidarity. Right now is the time to come with each other with love and compassion for all, including the most susceptible people in our society who will face this pandemic from a health perspective or an economic perspective.” He mentioned the Trump administration’s “incompetence and recklessness has threatened the lives of several people in the country.”


Sanders added that he would declare a national emergency and pressure Congress to “take responsibility on this crisis.”


“Our nation is at a severe disadvantage… because we never guarantee health care as a right,” he mentioned, adding that people who are uninsured or underinsured hesitate before they go to the doctor, which only worsens these crises.


Under Sanders’s Medicare for All plan, most of them of the infrastructure of today’s medical care system would stay intact, nevertheless the health insurance industry could be nationalized, funded primarily by the government. “While we work to pass a Medicare for All single-payer system, the U.S. Government today must make it clear that in the midst of this emergency, each person in this nation without consideration of their revenue or where they live must have the ability to get all of the healthcare they require without cost,” he mentioned, adding that the vaccine, once it is developed, must be free.


Sanders also wants to increase funds for emergency unemployment compensation for each person, including those who depend on tricks, gig workers, and freelancers; halt evictions, foreclosures and utility shutoffs; supply added economic assistance and meals on wheels for the elderly; and make sure that there really are national and state hotlines to answer questions about the virus.


“In this moment, we need to create ensure that in the future, immediately after this crisis is beyond us, we design a health care system that makes sure that every person in this nation is guaranteed the health care that they need,” he said.


Both speeches came hours soon after Trump delivered a televised national address in which he reported the nation would halt the admission of several European nationals into the U.S., Though it’s not clear how such a restriction would hamper the spread of the virus by those currently affected in the nation. His speech also made numerous false claims, including that the U.S. Is “more prepared” than identically afflicted countries and that he would block “cargo” and all people from Europe (cargo and American citizens can still enter the U.S.).