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President-elect Joe Biden is set to deliver a Thanksgiving address Wednesday afternoon from Wilmington, Delaware.
The former vice president plans to “discuss the shared sacrifices Americans are making this holiday season and say that we can and will get through the current crisis together,” Biden’s transition team said in a press release Wednesday.
The remarks come as coronavirus deaths and cases rise across the country. The national seven-day average of daily new cases stood at 174,225 as of Tuesday, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. Epidemiologists and health officials worry that holiday travel and indoor gatherings for Thanksgiving will exacerbate an already severe nationwide outbreak.
The surging Covid-19 pandemic also intensifies economic challenges. Weekly jobless claims were higher than expected, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Nearly 14 million workers face losing unemployment benefits at the end of December, as Congress has yet to pass a new coronavirus relief package.
President Donald Trump’s administration officially initiated the transition to Biden on Tuesday after weeks of delay. The president-elect’s transition team began receiving the classified presidential daily briefings and briefings on America’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic Tuesday.
Biden began naming picks for his Cabinet and national security team this week, including secretary of State, Homeland Security chief, director of national intelligence and Treasury secretary.
