President Joe Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be over during the latest episode of 60 Minutes with Scott Pelley. The announcement comes over two years into the pandemic which has killed more than 1 million Americans.
“The pandemic is over,” Biden responded. “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it …but the pandemic is over. 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.”
Biden's comments come one week after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said that the end of the pandemic was "in sight."
“Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020,” Ghebreyesus said. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight.”
Over the last two weeks, there were around 65,000 new COVID-19 cases reported each day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Approxiemently 400 people are dying every day from the virus.
As for 2024, Biden also remarked that he is not firm on running for reelection: “Look, my intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen."
Check out Biden's appearance on 60 Minutes below.
[Via]