Pool Reports by Brian Bennett, TIME Magazine
| Sent: | Reports: |
| January 4, 2022 13:25 |
In town pool report #1 - checking in Greetings from a snowy and sunny White House. I'll be your in town print pooler for the day. President Biden and Vice President Harris are scheduled to meet with the White House COVID-19 Response Team at 2 pm. A press briefing with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is slated for 2:30 pm. |
| January 4, 2022 14:09 |
In town pool report #2 - 2 min warning for Biden COVID-19 meeting 2 min warning at 2:08 pm. Pool was ushered in to see the beginning of the President and Vice President's briefing on the COVID-19 response. The set on the stage in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building has side windows filled in with projected images of snow on tree branches in the Rose Garden. Four single desks are arranged facing a large central screen. One screen reads "COVID-19 BRIEFING" and a rotating series of statements: "increasing testing & requiring masking", "further protecting the vaccinated" and "keeping schools safely open" and "protecting our economic recovery." |
| January 4, 2022 14:41 |
In town pool report #3 - Biden remarks at top of COVID-19 meeting Biden entered the auditorium at 2:11 pm. He was joined in the room by VP Harris, Dr. Fauci and Jeff Zients. Each sat at their own small desk facing a screen with video feeds showing Dr Vivek Murthy, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Natalie Quillian and Rohini Kosoglu. Biden spoke to a camera in the corner for about 14 min before the meeting began and reporters were ushered out at 2:25 pm. He did not answer shouted questions. Biden quotes: "We're gonna see, as you all have been hearing, a continued rise in cases. Omicron is very transmissible." "You can protect yourself and you should protect yourself quite frankly. Get vaccinated. Get boosted." "You can control how big an impact Omicron is going to have on your health." "We have booster shots for the whole nation. You can still get covid but it is highly unlikely you will get seriously ill." "If you are vaccinated and boosted you are highly protected. Be concerned about omicron. Don't be alarmed. If you're unvaccinated you have some reason to be alarmed. Many of you will experience severe illness in many cases if you are not vaccinated. Some will die needlessly." "So please please please get vaccinated now" "There's no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated" For kids "please get them vaccinated" "For people with kids too young to get vaccinated, surround your kids with people who are vaccinated" Talked about $10 billion for testing in schools that went out to states. Talked about deploying hundreds of military to hospitals that are overwhelmed. "The federal government will be there" Said the federal government has shipped out 2.4 million pieces of protective equipment "from gowns to gloves" to hospitals. Said booster shots are available at 90,000 sites. Said FDA approved booster shots for children age 12 and above. Talked about efforts to improve access to testing. "For God's sake please take advantage of what's available." Biden stopped talking at 2:25 pm and pool was ushered out of the room. The task force meeting was scheduled to continue. Here is the attendance list from the White House press office. In attendance for the meeting with the President and the Vice President:
Virtual
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| January 4, 2022 14:45 |
In town pool report #4 -- Briefing pushed back to 3 pm The White House press office just announced that the briefing with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki will start at 3 pm. |
| January 4, 2022 16:18 |
In town pool report #5 - lid The White House called a travel photo lid at 4:15 pm. Have a great evening all! |
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Pool Reports of January 4, 2022 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/354027