President Biden will tell Americans in his speech tonight that "the country can move forward safely" to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, the White House will roll out a detailed new strategy for how to do that.
A White House official describes the new plan as "a roadmap for how we sustain and build on the progress we've made over the past 13 months." The administration has been working on this plan since before the omicron wave took hold, gathering advice and ideas from a wide range of outside advisers and experts. The new plan follows the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement last week that it was relaxing its guidance for when to wear masks.
Biden is expected to walk through progress made in the fight against COVID-19 in his speech and talk about how at-home tests and antiviral pills are the now more widely available than ever. While the speech tonight will describe the broad strokes of where Biden sees the country going from here, tomorrow's announcement will be more tactical, getting into details.
Polling indicates the pandemic is no longer a top-of-mind issue for most Americans, with economic concerns ranking much higher on voters' list of priorities. Democrats express more concern about the consequences of relaxing mask requirements and other mitigation measures, while Republicans want the measures gone and are worried about the negative effects of keeping those measures in place.
