�������ýҕ�l

Nearly all of the nation’s leading public health organizations have already heard directly from President-elect Biden’s transition team since the election was called in his favor less than two weeks ago. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials has met with the Biden team three times, the National Association of County and City Health Officials met with the Biden team once and the Association of Immunization Managers had informal conversations with the team, the groups all confirmed to STAT. The Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents cities like Boston and New York, is scheduled to meet with them later this week. (Florko, 11/18)

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday named top aides who will work in his White House, rewarding loyal supporters and longtime advisers as he builds his administration-in-waiting while keeping a spotlight on the Trump administration’s refusal to assist his transition into office. The moves reflected Biden’s two-pronged strategy for navigating the difficulties surrounding his ascent to the presidency: While he is stepping up attempts to show how President Trump’s unwillingness to cooperate with his team could harm Americans, Biden is also signaling that the roadblocks are not stopping his endeavor to assemble a government prepared to address the crises gripping the nation. (Sullivan, 11/17)

[Joe] Biden is not breaking ranks with congressional Democrats on coronavirus relief negotiations. He could publicly endorse holding a vote on the scaled-back package that Senate Republicans want, but instead he expressed support on Monday for the bill that House Democrats advanced several months ago which has been a non-starter with the GOP. Even as Biden called on both sides to work together and to pass legislation immediately, his message was intentionally delivered in a way that would not be interpreted as undercutting the Democratic negotiating position on Capitol Hill. (Hohmann, 11/17)

An incoming Biden administration could quickly implement new infection control standards that would require stronger protections for healthcare workers. House Democrats have pushed to require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to create an emergency temporary standard on infection control during the COVID-19 pandemic, as no such standard directly covering exposure to airborne or aerosol diseases in the workplace exists. Republicans have blocked the provision in all coronavirus-related stimulus legislation that has passed so far, but Democrats may get the standard anyway under a Biden administration. (Cohrs, 11/17)

A recently retired military officer who worked as a coronavirus crisis planner says the rollout of a future vaccine will be “one of the most daunting challenges any president has ever faced.” “The virus is everywhere, and spreading deeply into every corner of the country. This is where the Biden administration will face its biggest challenge, especially as it pertains to rolling out a potential vaccine,” Kris Alexander, a former COVID-19 crisis planner for the military’s Northern Command (Northcom), wrote in a Monday op-ed for the Daily Beast. (Mitchell, 11/17)