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As the U.S. enters “what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus,” President Joe Biden is putting forth a national COVID-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses and increase the use of masks — including a requirement that they be worn for travel. Biden also will address inequities in hard-hit minority communities as he signs 10 pandemic-related executive orders on Thursday, his second day in office. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/21)

One order will require mask-wearing in airports and on certain modes of public transportation, including many trains, airplanes and intercity buses, officials said. He also plans to sign orders on Thursday to establish a COVID-19 testing board to ramp up testing, address supply shortfalls, establish protocols for international travelers and direct resources for minority communities hit hard by the infectious disease. (Bose and Mason, 1/20)

[The plan includes] the creation of a Pandemic Testing Board that can spur a “surge” in the capacity for coronavirus tests. Other orders will foster research into new treatments for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus; strengthen the collection and analysis of data to shape the government’s response to the crisis; and direct the federal occupational safety agency to release and enforce guidelines to protect workers from getting infected. Other aspects of the plan are intended to steer more money to states, which have complained they need more funding to carry out the work placed on them for testing, vaccinating residents and other functions. (Goldstein, Stanley-Becker and Meckler, 1/21)

The [executive] orders also call for studies, including large-scale randomized trials, to identify treatments and Mr. Biden’s administration will create public dashboards with state-by-state and national information on testing, vaccinations and hospital admissions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make vaccines available in local pharmacies beginning next month, and agencies will work on guidance for reopening schools and emergency temporary standards requiring employers to take steps to keep workers safe from Covid-19. (Armour and Siddiqui, 1/21)

President Joe Biden is pledging to reopen most K-12 schools within 100 days -- an ambitious goal as Covid cases surge and teachers across the country fight some plans to reopen. Teachers' union leaders say they are pleased with Biden's sense of urgency and focus, but they warn that the 100-day pledge may need to be a goal rather than a fixed target. (Lobosco, 1/21)

President Biden will issue an executive order on Thursday directing agencies to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) and other powers to speed up the manufacturing of testing and vaccine supplies and other items needed to fight COVID-19. Biden administration officials signaled they would be more aggressive than the previous administration in invoking the DPA, which allows the federal government to force companies to increase production of critical supplies during national emergencies. (Hellmann, 1/21)

Biden will also use his executive powers to direct agencies to use the Defense Production Act to compel companies to prioritize manufacturing supplies that are necessary to the pandemic response. That could include protective equipment like masks, supplies needed to administer vaccines and testing supplies, the plan says. The Trump administration also invoked the DPA to make ventilators and other supplies on several instances as part of its response to the pandemic. The executive order, called “A Sustainable Public Health Supply Chain,” will also “direct the development of a new Pandemic Supply Chain Resilience Strategy” in an effort to bolster domestic manufacturing of critical supplies. (Feuer, 1/21)

President Biden is set to freeze a spate of last-minute Trump administration regulations — including, most likely, a change to the FDA’s authority over medical devices and a tweak to certain Medicare drug coverage rules issued only Tuesday. (Florko, 1/20)

Weekly unemployment claims remain near 1 million, far above previous recessions, because of the surging pandemic. A rise in claims early this year also reflects an increase in filings delayed over the December holidays, as well as the new $300 in supplemental weekly jobless benefits drawing some of those out of work who had given up filing claims. (1/21)