President Joe Biden appeared alongside Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Friday to discuss progress in the ongoing fight against COVID-19 – a largely optimistic event in which Biden heralded Virginia’s handling of the vaccine rollout, and praised Northam as “one of the best governors in the country” in his response to the pandemic.
“You’ve done one hell of a job, doc,” Biden said, appearing alongside Northam at a climbing gym in Alexandria. “You’re one of the best governors in the country at taking this on, and you did it from the beginning.”
The day itself was also cause for celebration for many residents in the state: Just hours earlier, Virginia lifted of all distancing and capacity restrictions across the state – which Northam heralded as a “tremendous milestone” in the fight against Covid-19. The state currently ranks 14th among states for vaccination rates, Gov. Northam said, and is one of the leading states in the south for vaccination rates.
“As of 12:01 this morning – for first time since March 2020 – there are no limits or capacity or distancing in Virginia’s businesses, offices or venues,” Northam said, to robust applause. “We are closer to normal than we have been in the past 14 months.”
Indeed, the state’s numbers are significant: Roughly six months into the vaccine rollout, 66% of adults in the state have received at least one vaccine shot, and 54 percent have received both shots. According to Northam, Virginia is also on track to meeting Biden’s stated goal of vaccinating 70 percent of adults by Jul. 4.
“Four months after I took office, we are further along in this fight than anyone thought possible,” Biden said.
The president also spoke to progress on the national level. “When I took office, we were averaging 184,000 new coronavirus cases a day nationwide,” Biden told the audience.
Schools were closed, Biden said, and Main Street “had gone quiet – here, and in cities across America.”
“So many joys, large and small, had been halted by a long dark winter,” Biden continued.
But progress has indeed been made in the fight against the pandemic.
Since January, Biden said, the U.S. has gone from 184,000 new coronavirus cases a day to fewer than 22,000 new cases per day, and deaths have declined by 84%.
“This has been true here in Virginia particularly,” he said, which has seen a 93% decline in cases since late January.
Now, 51% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
"We're not just saving lives," Biden added. "We're getting our lives back."
Biden also took time to memorialize the state's late GOP Senator John Warner who passed away this week, calling him a person of "great integrity."