"Last night, I was on the telephone with a person at an emergency hospital ward in Pennsylvania because a good friend had called, and he had rushed his significant other to the emergency room because this woman was having trouble breathing, had a high fever, and could not catch her breath," Biden stated throughout a speech in Illinois promoting COVID-19 vaccine mandates for businesses. "They got her into the hospital. The waiting room was so crowded, things were so backed up they couldn't even get her to be seen initially. So, because I knew this person, I called. I called the desk nurse and asked what the situation was."
"To make a long story short, it took a while because all of the – not all – the vast majority of the emergency rooms and docs were occupied taking care of COVID patients," Biden continued. "I bet every one of you can name somebody who got sent to the hospital with something other than COVID and couldn't get it taken care of."
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Biden announced that he "wasn’t complaining" when he made the phone call because doctors and nurses working in packed hospitals are "getting the living hell kicked out of them, sometimes physically."
According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America is witnessing a drop in daily COVID-19 deaths after a two-month constant rise to mid-September.
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A seven-day moving average indicates a 12% drop over the last two weeks, from 1,630 on Sept. 21 to 1,428 on Oct. 5, per the latest available numbers. Nonetheless, the nation logged a grim milestone late Friday when the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000.
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Mr. Biden then continued to make the case for Covid vaccine mandates and urged companies to ensure that their employees are vaccinated.
"I’m calling more employers to act," Biden announced. "My message requires your employees to get vaccinated. With vaccinations, we're finally going to beat this pandemic finally.”
The Labor Department is yet to publish the details of the emergency rule which is supposed to be published in a few weeks.
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Although, Biden’s approval rating has slipped to 38 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University survey published on Wednesday, especially over handling of Covid-19 and the economy. His ratings are down from 42 percent three weeks ago after a high of 50 percent in February.
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