Biden to name coronavirus transition team among first acts
President-elect Joe Biden plans to announce a new coronavirus task force on his presidential transition team on Monday as one of his first acts since winning the election.
The task force will be co-chaired by Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general and Miami native, according to multiple media reports.
Biden was declared the winner on Saturday after he was projected to win Pennsylvania and its 20 Electoral College votes, guaranteeing he would secure the 270 necessary to beat President Donald Trump.
In his first speech as president-elect, Biden said one of his first actions will be to name members of a coronavirus task force that will guide his presidential transition on Monday. Coronavirus cases have been spiking across the country and the death toll in the United States is over 237,000 since the outbreak began.
“Our work begins with getting COVID under control,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. “We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality, or relish life’s most precious moments — hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us — until we get this virus under control.”
“On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisors to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20th, 2021,” he said. “That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern.”
The new task force will include 12 individuals, including public health experts and scientists, according to Jon Cooper, an adviser to the former vice president.
Miami Rep. Donna Shalala, who led the Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, said she expects Murthy to be named to Biden’s coronavirus task force.
“He’s been one of the three co-chairs of [Biden’s] healthcare policy group that has been meeting for some time,” Shalala said. “This one is a little more focused on COVID.”
She said Murthy, a Miami native who was U.S. surgeon general under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, is a knowledgeable voice on COVID and is well-respected among health care policy experts.
“I’ve known him for a while,” Shalala said. “He’s a good friend.”
Shalala lost her election on Tuesday to Republican former TV journalist Maria Elvira Salazar.
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 9:38 PM.
