Biden Sticks To Christmas As ‘Return To Normal’ Timeline

In a CNN town hall on Tues. (Feb. 16), President Joe Biden hesitated to give a definitive timeline on when the U.S. will get back to some state of “normal,” but is optimistic that a year from now, recovery will be “significant.”

“As my mother would say, with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors, that by next Christmas I think we’ll be in a very different circumstance, God willing, than we are today,” Biden said.

The available vaccines, Biden said, will help bring the country to herd immunity — or 70 percent of the population have COVID-19 antibodies — so that, “a year from now, I think that there’ll be significantly fewer people having to be socially distanced, having to wear a mask.”

“But we don’t know,” Biden warned. “I don’t want to over-promise anything here.”

The length of the timeline is not new — Biden spoke similarly with CNN a few weeks ago, PYMNTS reported, saying that achieving herd immunity by the end of the summer would be “very difficult.”

However, he did think there would be vast improvement in time for the new school year. PYMNTS has previously reported that, with Biden’s plans to buy additional vaccine doses, the U.S. should have enough supply to vaccinate 300 million Americans.

“It is highly unlikely that by the beginning of next year’s — traditional school year in September — we are not significantly better off than we are today,” Biden said. In the meantime, he stressed the continued observance of social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.

Biden also stressed the importance of passing and implementing a new COVID-19 relief package. His $1.9 trillion plan, which was approved by the Senate in early February, includes $1,400 stimulus checks to families, $15 minimum wage and provisions for vaccine distribution funding.

“Now is the time to be spending, now is the time to go big,” he told CNN.