Fact Check: No, Joe Biden Won't 'Shut Down the Virus' - Stop Misleading Americans
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden stated last week that he is capable of ending the coronavirus pandemic, but the claim doesn’t stand up to even the most moderate level of scrutiny.
In fact, Biden’s many claims about the public health pandemic are mere pandering.
Last Friday, Biden claimed on Twitter, “I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus.”
I’m not going to shut down the country.
I’m not going to shut down the economy.
I’m going to shut down the virus.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2020
Biden’s claim that he, and he alone, will “shut down the virus” is a product of either fantasy or an attempt to appeal to the fears of people who view the pandemic as the greatest threat to their lives.
Simple fact-checking shows Biden is being untruthful with the American people as he attempts to use the pandemic as a campaign platform, so let’s break down some of the 77-year-old’s views and ideas on the subject.
Biden opposed President Donald Trump’s China travel ban.
After President Trump banned travel from some parts of China in January, prior to the virus becoming an American health crisis, Biden placed identity politics above the safety of Americans by claiming the decision was racially motivated.
Biden suggested the travel ban was rooted in “xenophobia,” and accused the president of “fear-mongering.”
“We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering,” the candidate tweeted on Feb. 1.
We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020
“A wall will not stop the coronavirus,” Biden later added. “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.”
A wall will not stop the coronavirus.
Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it.
This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 13, 2020
Biden has proposed a nationwide mask mandate.
Biden has proposed a sweeping nationwide mandate to wear masks.
“Our legal team thinks I can [mandate masks], based upon the degree to which there’s a crisis in those states, and how bad things are for the country,” Biden said in September, CBS News reported.
He had earlier stated, “Why do you wear a mask? To protect your neighbor? To keep someone else from getting sick and maybe dying. I call that patriotic. This is the United States of America. Every generation has made sacrifices to help others in moments of crisis.”
The facts, however, don’t support any assertion that masks will end the pandemic.
Spain enacted a strict indoor/outdoor mask mandate in May, BBC News reported.
The country is now dealing with a massive second wave of reported cases, and citizens are rebelling.
If Biden’s mask mandate idea was supported by science, then the coronavirus arguably would have dispatched quickly in areas of the world such as Spain, where mask-wearing and social distancing have been mandated.
That hasn’t happened, as leaders in Europe are now instituting more potentially damaging lockdowns.
Biden has stated he will make a coronavirus vaccine free to all Americans.
Biden took to Twitter on Monday again to state that he will make a virus vaccine free.
“This is my commitment to you: We will make sure every American has access to a free and safe COVID-19 vaccine,” he tweeted.
This is my commitment to you: We will make sure every American has access to a free and safe COVID-19 vaccine.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 2, 2020
However, Biden is among a number of Democrats who have arguably harmed public health by stating such a vaccine would be untrustworthy if it were made available during Trump’s presidency.
“I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump, and at this moment, the American people can’t, either,” Biden said in September, The Associated Press reported.
The statement only undermined the hard work of those currently mobilizing for a vaccine, and a free vaccine for all is not a position to run on if you’ve already undermined the public’s trust in science.
Biden already botched one pandemic.
Biden’s own chief of staff in 2009, Ron Klain, noted after the H1N1 pandemic from 2009-2010 that the Obama administration completely botched the response to the public health crisis.
According to NBC News, Klain said in May 2019 at a biosecurity summit, “We did every possible thing wrong — 60 million Americans got H1N1.”
Luckily, that contagion didn’t prove to be a formidable as the novel coronavirus which overtook the globe this year.
The point is, Biden was in control to a large degree of that pandemic, and no serious person disputes that public health disaster was mismanaged.
Biden’s stated plans for combating the pandemic contain ideas that have already been put in place by President Donald Trump.
Biden’s campaign website calls for, “A decisive public health response that ensures the wide availability of free testing; the elimination of all cost barriers to preventive care and treatment for COVID-19; the development of a vaccine; and the full deployment and operation of necessary supplies, personnel, and facilities.
Indeed, President Trump already undertook those tasks this year when he quickly invoked the Defense Production Act and mobilized the private sector to help combat the health crisis.
Vice President Mike Pence nailed Biden for his apparent COVID-19 plan plagiarism during the vice presidential debate.
“The reality is when you look at the Biden plan, it reads an awful lot like what president trump and I and our task force have been doing every step of the way…[I]t looks a little bit like plagiarism which is something Joe Biden knows a little bit about.” #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/CTXZ37ffAJ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 8, 2020
Biden has signaled he is open to a second nationwide lockdown.
Biden has warned of a “long, dark winter” with regard to a second wave of the coronavirus in the U.S.
Joe Biden warned during tonight’s debate that the U.S. is about to go into a “dark winter” as Covid cases rise and the annual flu season approaches. “And he has no clear plan,” he said of Trump. https://t.co/ztRIeC4a84 pic.twitter.com/Ig2WdI5Hsv
— POLITICO (@politico) October 23, 2020
Biden surrogate, former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, stated on CNN Sunday that a nationwide lockdown is “on the table” if Biden wins.
Democrat Pete Buttigieg says if Joe Biden wins, a nationwide lockdown is “on the table.”
Don’t let Joe Biden shut down our economy. VOTE!pic.twitter.com/Io1K1kqNxW
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) November 2, 2020
According to ABC News, Biden himself previously stated on the subject that he “would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives. Because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus,”
“That is the fundamental flaw of this administration’s thinking to begin with,” he added. “In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing, and people employed, you have to fix the virus. You have to deal with the virus.”
He then stated. after being pressed about shutting the country down again by David Muir, “I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.”
The World Health Organization came out strongly last month against lockdowns, citing their economic, health, and mental health effects.
So much for the science, though, as the WHO is touted by Democrats as a credible global health body.
Biden has a long and checkered history when it comes to telling the truth.
Biden ended his first presidential campaign in 1987 after he was caught embellishing his education credentials.
Newsbusters put together three-decades-old news coverage of Biden being busted telling multiple mistruths.
Due to the candidate’s 47-year career in government, there is no reason to believe Biden is suddenly being honest.
In fact, he has a propensity for apparently telling people what he thinks they’d like to hear, or for making claims based on political expediency.
His campaign trail whoppers this year continue to mount, so there’s no reason to believe the candidate has suddenly decided to show respect for the facts with regard to a global pandemic when he’s so many times lied about his own pedigree and resume.
Biden has also lied recently about his relationship with the civil rights movement.
These lies are just the tip of the iceberg for a man whose family is also embroiled in an international corruption scandal.
In conclusion:
The simple truth is, not only can Biden not be trusted on any pandemic promises or public health rhetoric, but voters should actually view the candidate with skepticism in everything he has to say.
No single person can shut down a highly contagious disease.
For Biden to claim that he alone can end a global pandemic is both disingenuous and immoral.
The coronavirus pandemic will end through either herd immunity or a vaccine, and it has struck globally, from New York City to Milan, with the same ferociousness.
President Trump already mobilized the nation’s vast logistical resources to meet the challenge earlier this year.
Biden spent that time sniping from the sidelines and hiding behind the media and his questionable record.
He also proved he would place racial pandering over public health.
Now, the COVID-19 death rate is falling as health care providers learn to treat the disease, and therapeutics become more readily available.
Biden, after all these decades, is still telling lies.
But no mistruth so blatantly attacks facts, science, and common sense more than Biden’s claim that he will end the pandemic.
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