iden, the group of public health officials is scheduled to take questions from reporters. Although these appearances initially happened three times a week, they were scaled back in recent months as officials felt there were fewer updates to share. The recent surge of the Delta variant has changed that thinking.
The White House made a deliberate choice to hold their public briefing on Monday this week with the hope of developing a clearer line of messaging for the days ahead. Officials spent last week frustrated, believing they weren't effectively communicating the latest information as they rolled out a series of new measures designed to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
While there is consensus on the set of stricter measures among Biden's aides, officials lamented the poor communication to an understandably confused American public. They also accused some in the media of hyperbolic coverage.
Those officials kept Biden updated on the latest numbers while he was away from Washington this weekend.
On Tuesday Biden is scheduled to give a speech on increasing vaccinations at home and abroad. The White House sees the global vaccination drive as more important than ever, one official said, given it's a way to tamp down on the spread of potential new variants that could reach the U.S.
On Wednesday Biden will meet with the Dr. Eric Lander, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, to discuss his plan for preparing for future pandemics.
There's a chance the White House could add another coronavirus-related event to Biden's schedule, depending on how the week plays out.
Biden had once hoped to move on from coronavirus to focus on other areas of his governing agenda, including the bipartisan infrastructure deal that is making its way through Congress. But the pandemic has warped those plans as millions of Americans have not got their vaccinations and cases rise.
The renewed focus comes as the country grapples with the Delta variant, more contagious and may cause more severe illness than previous strains of coronavirus. The variant is spreading faster in areas of the country with low vaccination rates and threatening to derail much of the progress the nation has made in combating the pandemic.
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its masking recommendations and urged vaccinated people in certain areas of the country to resume wearing masks indoors in public areas. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency now recommends people in areas with "high" or "substantial" COVID-19 transmission should resume wearing masks indoors.
The White House is racing to get the rest of the population vaccinated and continuously touts the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines that have received emergency use authorization in the U.S. More than 99.99 per cent of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have not had a breakthrough case resulting in hospitalization or death, according to the latest data from the CDC.
On Sunday, the U.S. reported 816,203 more COVID-19 doses administered, which was the fifth straight day recording more than 700,000 shots in arms. The current seven-day average of doses administered is 662,529 per day — the highest average since July 7.
According to the CDC, 49.6 per cent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. The number is 58.1 per cent among vaccine-eligible Americans ages 12 and older.
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins on Sunday credited the rise in vaccinations to the rise in new cases of the Delta variant.
"This may be a tipping point for those who have been hesitant to say, 'OK, it's time.' I hope that's what's happening," Collins said on CNN's "State of the Union." "That's what desperately needs to happen if we're going to get this Delta variant put back in its place."
